Our understanding of the long-term health effects of tattoos is limited - Photo: CNN
Researchers stress the need for more research into the cancer risks of tattoos, especially as more and more people get tattoos on their bodies.
Potential link between tattoos and lymphoma
That said, our understanding of the long-term health effects of tattoos is limited. There is currently very little research in this area. So, a team at Lund University decided to examine the potential link between tattoos and lymphoma.
Researchers identified people diagnosed with lymphoma through population registers. These people were then matched with a control group of people of the same sex and age, but without lymphoma.
Study participants completed a questionnaire about lifestyle factors to determine whether they had tattoos, said Christel Nielsen, a researcher at Lund University who led the study.
The entire study included 11,905 participants, of whom 2,938 had lymphoma when they were between the ages of 20 and 60. Of these, 1,398 completed the questionnaire, while 4,193 were in the control group.
In the group with lymphoma, 21% had tattoos (289 people), while in the control group without a diagnosis of lymphoma, 18% had tattoos (735 people).
Complex picture needs more research
“After taking into account other relevant factors, such as smoking and age, we found a 21% higher risk of developing lymphoma in people with tattoos. It is important to remember that lymphoma is a rare disease and our results apply at a group level.
The results need to be verified and further investigated in other studies. Such studies are still ongoing," said Christel Nielsen.
One hypothesis that Christel Nielsen’s team hypothesized was that the size of the tattoo would influence the risk of lymphoma. They thought that people with full-body tattoos might have a higher risk of cancer, compared to people with a small butterfly tattoo on their shoulder. Surprisingly, the surface area of the tattoo turned out to be unimportant.
"We still don't know why this is the case. One can only speculate that a tattoo, regardless of its size, causes a low-level inflammation in the body, which can then cause cancer. So the picture is more complex than we initially thought," Christel said.
Most people get their first tattoos when they are young, which means they are exposed to ink for most of their lives. However, research has only scratched the surface of the long-term health effects of tattoos.
"We know that when tattoo ink is injected into the skin, the body perceives it as something foreign that shouldn't be there and the immune system is activated. A large portion of the ink is transported away from the skin to the lymph nodes, where it is retained," said Christel Nielsen.
The team will now look into whether there is a link between tattoos and other types of cancer. They also want to look further into other inflammatory diseases, to see if there is a link with tattoos.
“People will likely continue to want to express themselves through tattoos, so it’s really important that we can ensure that tattooing is safe.
For individuals, it is good to know that tattoos can affect their health, and to contact a health care provider if you experience symptoms that you believe may be related to your tattoo,” concludes Christel Nielsen.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/canh-bao-hinh-xam-co-the-lam-tang-nguy-co-mac-ung-thu-20240530133017068.htm
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