@article{ref1,
title="The medium, not the message: how tattoos correlate with early mortality",
journal="American journal of clinical pathology",
year="2014",
author="Carson, Henry J.",
volume="142",
number="1",
pages="99-103",
abstract="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. <br><br>METHODS: Tattooed and nontattooed persons were classified by demography and forensics. Tattoos with negative or ominous messages were reviewed. Statistical comparisons were made. <br><br>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. <br><br>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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0002-9173",
doi="10.1309/AJCPDOI32FWQLUEO",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1309/AJCPDOI32FWQLUEO"
}