A new Swedish study finds that people with tattoos have a 21% higher risk of developing lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.
“It is important to remember that lymphoma is a rare disease and our findings apply at the group level,” Christel Nielsen, a researcher at Lund University who led the study, said in a statement. last week. “The results now need to be verified and further investigated in other studies, and this research is ongoing.”
For the study, published in eClinicalMedicine, 11,905 participants were asked to complete a questionnaire on lifestyle factors to determine whether they had tattoos. The risk associated with exposure to tattoos appears to be higher for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (a fast-growing, curable cancer that starts in white blood cells) and follicular lymphoma (a slow-growing, incurable cancer) .
“We already know that when tattoo ink is injected into the skin, the body interprets it as something foreign that should not be there and the immune system is activated,” Nielsen explained. “Much of the ink is carried away from the skin to the lymph nodes where it is deposited. »
Nielsen’s team hypothesized that tattoo size would affect lymphoma risk, but they determined that was not the case.
“One can only assume that a tattoo, regardless of its size, triggers mild inflammation in the body, which in turn can trigger cancer,” Nielsen explained. “So the picture is more complex than we initially thought. »
Nielsen said his study highlights the importance of monitoring the chemical composition of tattoo ink. In the United States, nearly a third of adults have a tattoo, with 22% having more than one.
The Food and Drug Administration considers tattoo inks to be cosmetics and their pigments to be color additives.
The FDA says it has traditionally not regulated color additives in tattoo ink pigments, while local municipalities set rules for body art businesses.
Nielsen’s team plans to look for links between tattoos and other types of cancer as well as other inflammatory diseases.
A study presented last year at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research found a potential link between having multiple large tattoos and blood cancer risk. The risk was particularly high for people who were tattooed from a young age.
“People will likely want to continue to express their identity through tattoos, and so it’s very important that we as a society can ensure that it’s safe,” Nielsen said. “For the individual, it is good to know that tattoos can affect your health and that you should turn to your health care provider if you experience symptoms that you think may be related to your tattoo. “
News Source : nypost.com
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