Experts have warned that getting a tattoo could increase someone’s risk of blood cancer by 21 percent.
Researchers from Lynd University in Sweden have discovered a potential link between tattoos and cancer developing in the lymphatic system.
Their findings are part of a push to find out the potential impact of tattoos on the body and whether there are any short or long-term health impacts.
The researchers studied 11,905 people and of that group 2,938 of the participants between the ages of 20 and 60 had lymphoma. Of those with lymphoma 21 percent of them, 289, had tattoos compared to the control group of 735 who didn’t have lymphoma.
Following the publication of the study, Dr Christel Nielsen reassured that the type of cancer they’d found a link to was incredibly rare and there were caveats to their study.
She said: “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.”
On why tattoos could increase someone’s risk, Dr Nielsen said they could only speculate that they might trigger “low-grade inflammation” into the body but that the picture was “more complex” than they originally thought.
As a result, this single study doesn’t mean that getting a tattoo will definitely lead to the development of cancer in someone’s lymphatic system.
There are two main types of lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. According to Blood Cancer UK there are several different symptoms which can develop because of the disease.
One of the most common symptoms is a lump or swelling. They explained: “You may get painless swellings in your neck, collarbone, armpit, groin or other parts of your body.
“Some swollen lymph nodes can press on organs and cause pain in your chest, coughing, breathlessness, or pain in your stomach area.”
Other symptoms say the charity include a fever, unexpected weight loss and night sweats however, symptoms can vary depending on the type of lymphoma someone has.
According to the charity, blood cancer is the fifth most common cancer and the most common childhood cancer in the UK. Furthermore, around 41,000 people are diagnosed every year and some estimate there are around 250,000 Britons living with blood cancer.
