A hospital-based case-control study of renal-cell carcinoma was conduc
ted in France from 1987 to 1991. A total of 196 histologically confirm
ed cases (138 males and 58 females) and 347 controls (235 males and 11
2 females), matched for sex, age at interview, hospital and interviewe
r, were included. The risk of renal-cell carcinoma was not apparently
increased with number of cigarettes per day, duration of smoking or ea
rly age at first cigarette smoking in males. No significant trend was
found in the risks with increasing Quetelet index (QI) at the age of 2
0 in males. On the contrary, the risks increased significantly with an
increasing QI prior to diagnosis. In females, the trends in risks wer
e significant both for the relative weight at the age of 20 and prior
to diagnosis. The consumption of regular or decaffeinated coffee, tea
or alcoholic beverages was not associated with renal-cell carcinoma, i
n males or in females. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.