Table 2. Case-control studies of soft tissue sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Reference	Country	Cases	Controls	Method of exposure assessment	Comments
Hardell et al 1979 [5]	Sweden	21 living and 31 deceased men aged 26-80 who had been admitted to a hospital with STS during 1970-77	206 men (up to 4 per case) matched for sex, age (±5 years), vital status and place of residence or death	Self-administered questionnaire completed by subject or next of kin, supplemented by blinded telephone interview
Eriksson et al 1981 [6]	Sweden	110 patients with STS diagnosed during 1974-78 in 5 counties	219 controls (up to 2 per case) matched by age, municipality, vital status and year of death, and employment within 5 years of case’s retirement or death	Self-administered questionnaire completed by subject or next of kin, supplemented by blinded telephone interview
Greenwald et al 1984 [43]	USA	281 men with STS diagnosed during 1962-80 and registered in New York State, who were aged 18-29 during 1962-71	281 living men from driver’s license files, individually matched for 5-year period of birth and area of residence, plus 130 deceased controls for deceased cases	Telephone interview of subject or next of kin, or in-person interview if requested
Hoar et al 1986 [44]	USA	Men with new STS (133), NHL (170) and Hodgkin’s disease (121) during 1976-82 identified from cancer registry for Kansas State	948 men from general population individually matched on age vital status and year of death	Telephone interview of subject or next of kin	Data on NHL later included in pooled analysis by De Roos et al 2003 [45].
Vineis et al 1986 [46]	Italy	68 men and women aged ≥20 from three provinces with proved or suspected histological diagnosis of STS during 1981-83	122 men and women selected from electoral registers and 36 selected from death records	Inference by blinded experts from job descriptions elicited from subject or next of kin at interview or (for 16 cases and 37 referents) by postal questionnaire
Smith and Pearce 1986 [47]	New Zealand	133 men with histologically confirmed STS registered during 1976-82	407 men with other registered cancers	Telephone interview of subject or next of kin	Extends Smith et 1984 [48], and subsumes Smith et al 1983 [49].
Woods et al 1987 [50]	USA	Men aged 20-79 in 13 counties of Washington State with STS (128) and NHL (576) diagnosed during 1981-84	694 men from general population, individually matched for vital status and age, identified through random digit dialling, social security records and death records	In-person interview	Subsumes Woods and Polissar 1989 [51].
Pearce et al 1987 [52]	New Zealand	183 men aged >70 with histologically confirmed NHL registered during 1977-81	338 men with other registered cancers	Telephone interview of subject or next of kin	Subsumes Pearce et al 1986 [53].
Olsson and Brandt 1988 [54]	Sweden	167 men aged 20-81 admitted to oncology department in Lund during 1978-81 with NHL	50 men from population register for same geographical area as cases plus 80 men from different parts of Sweden (originally controls for other studies)	Interview	Second control group inappropriate because from different geographical areas. Interviews not blinded.
Zahm et al 1990 [55]	USA	White men aged ≥21 from 66 counties of Nebraska with NHL (201), Hodgkin’s disease, multiple myeloma or CLL diagnosed during 1983-86	725 white men from general population frequency matched for race, vital status and age, identified through random digit dialling, social security records and death records	Telephone interview of subject or next of kin	Subsumes Weisenberger 1990 [56]. Later included in pooled analysis by De Roos et al 2003 [45].
Dalager et al 1991 [57]	USA	201 male Vietnam-era veterans born during 1937-54 with NHL diagnosed and treated in Veterans Affairs hospitals during 1969-85	358 male Vietnam-era veterans who were in-patients at Veterans Affairs hospitals and individually matched for birth date, hospital and year of discharge from hospital	Self-administered questionnaire completed by subject or next of kin, supplemented by telephone interview
Cantor et al 1992 [58]	USA	622 men aged ≥30 from Iowa and parts of Minnesota with histologically confirmed NHL diagnosed during 1981-83 (Iowa) and 1980-82 (Minnesota)	1,245 white men frequency matched by 5-year age group, vital status and state of residence, selected from random digit dialling, Medicare records and death certificate files	In-person interview with subject or proxy.	Later included in pooled analysis by De Roos et al 2003 [45].
Smith and Christophers 1992 [59]	Australia	30 men aged ≥30 with STS registered at six Melbourne hospitals during 1982-88 and still alive at time of study	Patients registered with other cancers and people selected from electoral register, individually matched for sex, age and current area of residence	Interview
Hardell et al 1994 [60]	Sweden	105 men aged 25-85 admitted to an oncology department with NHL during 1974-78	335 men from general population, individually matched for age, place of residence, vital status and year of death	Self-administered questionnaire completed by patient or next of kin and supplemented by telephone interview where necessary.	Subsumes Hardell et al 1981 [7].
Kogevinas et al 1995 [61]	11 countriesa	11 cases of STS and 32 of NHL identified from death certificates and cancer registrations in an international cohort study	Five controls per case, individually matched for sex, age and country, selected by incidence density sampling (information on exposure missing for 2 controls)	Inferred from employment records by a panel of hygienists blinded to case/control status	Overlaps Kogevinas et al 1997 [22] and Lynge 1998 [31].
Tatham et al 1997 [62]	USA	1,048 living men born 1929-53 with NHL diagnosed during 1984-88 and registered at one of 8 cancer registries	1,659 men from general population, frequency matched for registry and date of birth (in 5-year bands), identified through random digit dialling	Telephone interview
Fontana et al 1998 [63]	Italy	180 patients aged 20-74 with NHL, Hodgkin’s disease or CLL during 1991-93 at four hospitals	Random sample from general population, frequency matched for sex and age	In-person interview	Methods poorly described.
Hardell and Eriksson 1999 [64]	Sweden	404 men aged ≥25 years from 7 Swedish counties with NHL diagnosed during 1987-90	741 men from general population, individually matched for age, county, vital status and year of death	Self-administered questionnaire completed by subject or next of kin, supplemented by telephone interview if necessary
Persson and Fredrikson 1999 [65]	Sweden	199 surviving patients aged 20-79 from 2 regions with NHL registered during 1964-86	479 adults form the same populations, randomly selected from population registers	Postal questionnaire	Subsumes Persson et al 1989 [66] and Persson et al1993 [67].
Miligi et al 2003 [68]	Italy	1,145 adults aged 20-74 from 11 areas of Italy with newly diagnosed NHL or CLL during 1990-93	1,232 people randomly selected from general population with frequency matching for sex and age	In-person interview of subject or proxy with expert inference of exposure to specific pesticides based on questionnaire data	Miligi et al 2006 [69] is based on same study.
Fritschi et al 2005 [70]	Australia	694 adults aged 20-74 from 2 Australian states with NHL first diagnosed 2000-01	694 adults randomly selected from electoral roll and frequency matched for sex, age and region of residence	Postal questionnaire supplemented by interview in those with relevant jobs
Hartge et al 2005 [71]	USA	1,321 adults aged 20-74 from 3 geographical areas with NHL diagnosed 1998-2000 (excluded a random subset of whites in two areas)	1,057 adults from general population, frequency matched for sex, age, race and area, identified through random digit dialling or Medicare records	In-person interview and measurement of dust samples in home
Mills et al 2005 [72]	USA	60 cases of NHL incident during 1987-2001 among 139,000 members of a farm workers’ union in California	300 controls from same cohort with no history of cancer, matched for sex, age and Hispanic ethnicity	Linkage of job histories to records of pesticide applications by month, county and crop
Orsi et al 2008 [73]	France	Men aged 20-75 from 6 French centres with recently diagnosed NHL (244) and CLL (77) during 2000-04	456 hospital patients mainly from orthopaedic and rheumatological departments	In-person interview with supplementary telephone interview if needed.
Eriksson et al 2008 [74]	Sweden	910 patients aged 18-74 from 4 regions with histologically confirmed NHL newly diagnosed during 1999-2002	1,016 adults randomly selected from population registers and frequency matched for sex and age	Postal questionnaire
Pahwa et al 2011 [75]	Canada	357 men aged ≥19 years from 6 provinces with STS diagnosed during 1991-94	1,506 men from general population, identified from health insurance records, telephone listings and voters’ lists	Postal questionnaire (subject or proxy) supplemented by interview	Subsumes Pahwa et al 2006 [76].
Pahwa et al 2012 [77]	Canada	513 men aged ≥19 years from 6 provinces with NHL diagnosed during 1991-94	1,506 men from general population, frequency matched for age, identified from health insurance records, telephone listings and voters’ lists	Postal questionnaire (subject or proxy) supplemented by interview in subjects with more intensive exposure to pesticides	Subsumes McDuffie et al 2001 [78] and Hohenadel et al 2011 [79].

^aAustralia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, UK