A new study from Lund University in Sweden suggests that tattoos could be a risk factor for cancer in the lymphatic system, or lymphoma. Now, the researchers underline the need for more research on the topic. Our knowledge regarding the long-term health effects of tattoos is currently poor, and there is not a lot of research within this area.
Now a research group at Lund University has investigated the association between tattoos and lymphoma. "We have identified people diagnosed with lymphoma via population registers. These individuals were then matched with a control group of the same sex and age, but without lymphoma.
The study participants answered a questionnaire about lifestyle factors to determine whether they were tattooed or not", says Christel Nielsen, the researcher at Lund University who led the study. In total, the entire study included 11,905 people. Of these, 2,938 people had lymphoma when they were between 20 and 60 years old.
Among them, 1,398 people answered the questionnaire, while the number of participants in the control group was 4,193. In the group with lymphoma, 21 percent were tattooed (289 individuals), while 18 percent were tattooed in the control group without a lymphoma diagnosis (735 individuals). After taking into account other relevant factors, such as smoking and age, we found that the risk of developing lymphoma was 21 percent higher among those who were tattooed.
It is important to remember that lymphoma is a rare disease and that our result.
