Tattoo ink exposure is associated with lymphoma and skin cancers – a Danish study of twins
4th March 2025
In the case-control study, individual-level analysis resulted in a hazard of skin cancer (of any type except basal cell carcinoma) that was 1.62 times higher among tattooed individuals (95% CI: 1.08–2.41). Twin-matched analysis of 14 twin pairs discordant for tattoo ink exposure and skin cancer showed HR?=?1.33 (95% CI: 0.46–3.84). For skin cancer and lymphoma, increased hazards were found for tattoos larger than the palm of a hand: HR?=?2.37 (95% CI: 1.11–5.06) and HR?=?2.73 (95% CI: 1.33–5.60), respectively. In the cohort study design, individual-level analysis resulted in a hazard ratio of 3.91 (95% CI: 1.42–10.8) for skin cancer and 2.83 (95% CI: 1.30–6.16) for basal cell carcinoma.
As with most such studies, this documents correlation, not causation, and therefore isn’t worth as much as it pretends to be.
Nevertheless, it’s comforting to know that, like tobacco and alcohol and opiates, this tends to be a self-correcting problem. Think of it as evolution in action.