Risk for Lymphoma, Skin Cancer Increased in Individuals With Tattoos

FRIDAY, March 7, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Tattooed individuals have an increased risk for lymphoma and skin cancers, according to a study recently published in BMC Public Health.

Signe Bedsted Clemmensen, from the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, and colleagues conducted two designs of twin studies to examine the potential association between tattoo ink exposure and development of certain types of cancers: a cohort study including 2,367 randomly selected twins and a case-control study involving 316 twins born from 1960 to 1996.

The researchers found that the risk for skin cancer (any type except basal cell carcinoma) was 1.62 times higher among tattooed individuals in the case-control study (95 percent confidence interval, 1.08 to 2.41). The hazard ratio was 1.33 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.46 to 3.84) for a twin-matched analysis of 14 twin pairs discordant for tattoo ink exposure and skin cancer. Increased hazards were found for tattoos larger than the palm of a hand for skin cancer and lymphoma (hazard ratios [95 percent confidence intervals], 2.37 [1.11 to 5.06] and 2.73 [1.33 to 5.60], respectively). An individual-level analysis resulted in hazard ratios of 3.91 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.42 to 10.8) and 2.83 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.30 to 6.16) for skin cancer and basal cell carcinoma, respectively, in the cohort study design.

“We are concerned that tattoo ink has severe public health consequences since tattooing is abundant among the younger generation,” the authors write. “Studies that pinpoint the etiological pathway of tattoo ink-induced carcinogenesis are recommended.”

Abstract/Full Text