Hair Dye Use May Increase Risk of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma

Hair Dye Use May Increase Risk of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Using hair dye products may increase the risk ofdeveloping non-Hodgkins lymphoma, according to researchers at Yale School ofMedicine (Am J Epidemiol, 159, 2:148-54, 2004), reiterating the reason touse natural hair dyes. Researchers observed an increased risk of non-Hodgkinslymphoma among women who used hair-coloring products prior to 1980. The oddsratio among women who used darker permanent hair color products for more than 25years was 2.1 and the odds ratio for women who had more than 200 hair colorproduct applications had a 1.7 ratio, according to the study. However, noincreased risk was associated with use of hair color products in 1980 or afterand non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Researchers are unsure whether this findingreflects the change in hair color product formulation or if it indicates recentusers are still in an induction or latent period of the disease.