A prospective study of permanent hair dye use and hematopoietic cancer

Use of permanent hair dye has been suggested as a risk factor for several types of cancer, although epidemiologic data have not generally supported this hypothesis. Retrospective studies have reported a possible association between hair dyes and hematopoietic cancers.

Our purpose was to investigate if permanent hair dye was associated with risks of incident lymphoma, leukemia, and multiple myeloma in the Nurses' Health Study, a prospective cohort study of 99,067 women aged 30-55 years in 1976.

Questionnaires regarding medical history and other health-related variables were sent to Nurses' Health Study participants every 2 years from 1976 to 1990. The follow-up for mortality in this cohort exceeds 98%. We identified 244 newly diagnosed cases of hematopoietic cancers, confirmed by pathology reports. Permanent hair dye use was ascertained over four cycles of questionnaires from 1976-1982; status of hair dye use established in 1982 was then used for the remainder of the follow-up time (through 1990). Age-specific incidence rates were calculated and used to compute relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

We found no evidence of a positive association between ever use of permanent hair dye and all hematopoietic cancers (age-adjusted RR = 0.9; 95% CI = 0.7-1.2) or specific types (Hodgkin's lymphoma [RR = 0.9; 95% CI = 0.4-2.1], non-Hodgkin's lymphoma [RR = 1.1; 95% CI = 0.8-1.6], multiple myeloma [RR = 0.4; 95% CI = 0.2-0.9], chronic lymphocytic leukemia [RR = 0.6; 95% CI = 0.3-1.5], and other leukemias [RR = 0.8; 95% CI = 0.3-1.9]). Further examination of age at first use, duration, frequency, and time since first use and risk of all hematopoietic cancers or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (the largest diagnostic group), indicated no material associations.

In this prospective cohort study, permanent hair dye use is not adversely related to risks of hematopoietic cancers.