Background: Tattoos may cause a variety of adverse reactions in the body, including immune reactions and infections. However, it is unknown whether tattoos may increase the risk of lymphatic cancers such as non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) and multiple myeloma (MM).
Methods: Participants from two population-based case-control studies were including in logistic regression models to examine the association between tattoos and risk of NHL and MM.
Results: A total of 1518 participants from the NHL study (737 cases) and 742 participants from the MM study (373 cases) were included in the analyses. No statistically significant associations were found between tattoos and risk of NHL or MM after adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, education, BMI, and family history.
Conclusions: We did not identify any significant associations between tattoos and risk of MM, NHL, or NHL subtypes in these studies.
Impact: Though biologically plausible, tattoos were not associated with increased risk of NHL or MM in this study. Future studies with greater detail regarding tattoo exposure may provide further insights.