Danish study finds link between tattoos and lymphoma and skin cancer risk

CANCER DIGEST – March 8, 2025 – When most people get a tattoo, their health concerns center almost entirely on cleanliness and risk of infection. The question Danish scientists asked is whether there might be long-term risks of cancer or other diseases.

To find out the researchers analyzed the medical records of 5,900 twins who have been participating the Danish Twin Cohort, a project that tracks the health of genetically identical twins. Such twin studies allow comparisons of lifestyle choices on health without having to factor in genetic differences.

The researchers, led by Signe Bedsted Clemmensen of the Institute of Public Health at the University of Southern Denmark, wanted to know if tattoo ink that seeps into the lymph nodes and accumulates over time has any effect on skin or lymphoma cancer risk. The results were published Jan. 15, 2025 in the journal BMC Public Health.

In this study the researchers were able to compare cancer diagnoses among twins with and without tattoos. The results showed a link between tattoos and cancer, with a stronger link between those with large tattoos, any design bigger than a hand.

For lymphoma, the rate of cancer was three times higher for people with large tattoos compared to those without tattoos. When they looked at factors such as age when first receiving a tattoo and size of the tattoo they found that the longer and the larger the tattoo has been applied, the stronger the risk of lymphoma. The median number of years from tattoo to cancer diagnosis was 8 years.

Among the 2,367 individual twins, there 16 with skin cancer (half of them were tattooed with a median number of years from tattoo to diagnosis of 11 years.

The study confirms results of an earlier study from a 2024 Swedish study of twins and tattoos. The researchers also asked if the cancer link might be related to ink color but they did not find a clear link between cancer occurrence and tattoo color.

While the results are not conclusive it provides enough certainty for researchers to begin looking at how tattoo ink affects the function of lymph nodes at a molecular level, and whether certain types of lymphoma are more or less likely to occur in tattooed individuals.

Sources: University of Southern Denmark press release and the journal BMC Public Health