Do Tattoos Increase the Risk of Blood Cancers?

By Cecilia Brown - Last Updated: May 5, 2023

There may be a “potential association” between having “several large tattoos” and the risk of hematologic cancers, according to research presented at the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting.

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Researchers from the University of Utah and Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine conducted the study to evaluate if tattooing exposures were associated with risk of hematologic malignancies.

It was important to conduct the research because “some tattoo inks contain carcinogens, which can interact with solar radiation to produce potentially toxic compounds,” and tattoo inks can also “migrate to the lymphatic system and produce inflammatory and immune responses,” according to the study’s authors.

They conducted a population-based case-control study of 156 myeloid neoplasms and 500 lymphomas in patients aged 19 to 79 years. All patients were diagnosed between July 2019 and December 2021, and identified through the Utah Cancer Registry using rapid case ascertainment. The researchers selected control participants from around 19,000 adult residents of Utah who participated in the 2020 Utah Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System statewide survey. The control participants were frequency matched to cases in a 3:1 ratio on age, sex, race, and ethnicity.

The researchers used telephone surveys to collect data on number of tattoo sessions, number of large tattoos, age at first tattoo, and relevant co-variates. They fit binary logistic regression models for general hematologic malignancies and multinomial logistic regression models for myeloid neoplasms and lymphomas, to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals for each tattoo variable, adjusted for age, sex, race, ethnicity, education level, past cancer diagnosis, and if the person ever smoked.

They found there was “no strong evidence” that receiving a tattoo versus never having received a tattoo was associated with risk of overall hematologic cancers (OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.96-1.07), myeloid neoplasms (OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.59-2.13), or lymphomas (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 0.77-1.49).

However, having at least three large tattoos, compared with never having received a tattoo, was “suggestively associated with an increased risk” of overall hematologic cancers (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 0.69-2.47), according to the study’s authors. The effect estimate was strongest among myeloid neoplasms (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 0.54-5.50).

Receiving a first tattoo before the age of 20 years old was associated with an elevated risk of myeloid neoplasms compared with never receiving a tattoo (2.00 [0.91-4.38). However, receiving a first tattoo at age 20 years or older was associated with an elevated risk of lymphoma (OR, 1.24; 95% CI, 0.84-1.83), “though the estimates were imprecise,” the study’s authors wrote.

“We observed a potential association between having several large tattoos and risk of hematologic cancers, particularly myeloid neoplasms,” the study’s authors concluded. “The risk of myeloid neoplasms appeared to be strongest among individuals receiving tattoos at young age. If confirmed, these findings could inform public health messaging about the safety of tattoos.”

Reference

McCarty RD, Trabert B, Millar MM, et al. Tattooing and risk of hematologic cancer: a population-based case-control study in Utah. Abstract 6471. Presented at the American Association of Cancer Research Annual Meeting; April 14-19, 2023; Orlando, Florida.

Post Tags:AACR 2023
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