- Tattoo ink contains known carcinogens, and can be transported around the body and end up in the lymph nodes.
- However, there is little research into whether or not having a tattoo raises a person’s risk of cancer.
- Researchers from Lund University Sweden used national registries to identify cases of lymphoma and analyze whether they could be linked to tattoos.
- They found a 21% increased risk of lymphoma in people who had tattoos, compared to those who did not.
- Researchers are now looking at whether tattoos can raise the risk of different kinds of cancer.
Tattoos were associated with a 21% increased risk of lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in an observational study of a Swedish cohort.
Researchers from Lund University, Sweden analyzed the Swedish National Cancer Register, and found that the size of the tattoo had little effect on the risk of cancer. The results are published in eClinical Medicine.
While researchers were already aware of the potentially carcinogenic properties of some tattoo inks, the authors of this study said the impact they had on cancer risk was not, prompting them to undertake the current research.
