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The medium, not the message. How tattoos correlate with early mortality
1From Mercy Hospital, Iowa City, IA. hjcmd@earthlink.net.
Objectives:
At autopsy, tattoos are recorded as part of the external examination. An investigation was undertaken to determine whether negative messages that are tattooed on a decedent may indicate a predisposition to certain fatal outcomes.
Methods:
Tattooed and nontattooed persons were classified by demography and forensics. Tattoos with negative or ominous messages were reviewed. Statistical comparisons were made.
Results:
The mean age of death for tattooed persons was 39 years, compared with 53 years for nontattooed persons (P = .0001). There was a significant contribution of negative messages in tattoos associated with nonnatural death (P = .0088) but not with natural death. However, the presence of any tattoo was more significant than the content of the tattoo.
Conclusions:
Persons with tattoos appear to die earlier than those without. There may be an epiphenomenon between having tattoos and risk-taking behavior such as drug or alcohol use. A negative tattoo may suggest a predisposition to violent death but is eclipsed by the presence of any tattoo.
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