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Meta-Analysis
. 2017 Oct;6(10):2471-2486.
doi: 10.1002/cam4.1162. Epub 2017 Sep 18.

Personal use of hair dyes and risk of leukemia: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis

Kevin M Towle  1 , Matthew E Grespin  2 , Andrew D Monnot  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Personal use of hair dyes and risk of leukemia: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis

Kevin M Towle et al. Cancer Med. 2017 Oct.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine the association between personal use of hair dyes and the risk of leukemia. We conducted a systematic literature review of epidemiology studies reporting leukemia-specific cancer risks among hair dye users, and estimated the meta-relative risk (meta-RR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of leukemia, comparing hair dye users to nonusers. When data from all 20 studies that met the inclusion criteria were combined, ever use of hair dye was associated with a nonstatistically significant increased risk of leukemia, meta-RR = 1.09 (95% CI: 0.97-1.22). When restricted to studies that adjusted for smoking, ever use of hair dye was not associated with leukemia, meta-RR = 0.99 (95% CI: 0.76-1.29). A statistically significant increased risk of leukemia was associated with permanent hair dye use (meta-RR = 1.19 [95% CI: 1.07-1.33]), dark hair dye use (meta-RR = 1.29 [95% CI: 1.11-1.50]), hair dye use among males (meta-RR = 1.42 [95% CI: 1.01-2.00]), hair dye use pre-1980 (meta-RR = 1.49 [95% CI: 1.21-1.83]), and hair dye use for ≥15 years (meta-RR = 1.35 [95% CI: 1.13-1.62]). Overall, findings suggest that ever use of hair dye is not a significant risk factor for leukemia. Certain hair dye use characteristics were associated with a statistically significant increased risk, but further research is required to determine whether these associations truly reflect a risk of leukemia due to methodological limitations in the underlying studies.

Keywords: Epidemiology; hair dye; leukemia; meta-analysis.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of literature review and paper selection following inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of risk of leukemia, meta‐RR 1.09 (95% CI: 0.97–1.22), comparing ever use of personal hair dye to no use of personal hair dye. RR, relative risk; CI, confidence interval; AML, acute myeloid leukemia; CML, chronic myeloid leukemia; ALL, acute lymphocytic leukemia; CLL, chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Funnel plot for all included studies (log risk estimate and standard error). Egger's test did not provide evidence of asymmetry (P = 0.53).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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