A new study has claimed that people with tattoos are at higher risk of developing lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. The research has been done by a team from Sweden and suggests getting a tattoo can put you at 21 per cent higher risk of cancer in the lymphatic system. However, researchers underlined the need for more research on the topic. The study is based on the analysis of the data of 11,905 people, out of which 2,938 people had lymphoma when they were between 20 and 60 years old.
The group was directed to answer a questionnaire about lifestyle factors. The team said that in a control group of 4,193 people, 21 per cent were tattooed (289 individuals), while 18 per cent were tattooed in the control group without a lymphoma diagnosis (735 individuals).
"We already know that when the tattoo ink is injected into the skin, the body interprets this as something foreign that should not be there, and the immune system is activated," Lund University researcher Christel Nielsen, who led the study, said in a statement. "A large part of the ink is transported away from the skin, to the lymph nodes where it is deposited."
The research team found that the risk of cancer was highest 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).
"It is important to remember that lymphoma is a rare disease and that our results apply at the group level. The results now need to be verified and investigated further in other studies, and such research is ongoing," said Ms Nielsen.
Scientists believed that the size of the tattoo would affect the lymphoma risk, but they later termed it as mere "speculation".
