The association between soft tissue sarcomas and exposure to phenoxyacetic acids. A new case-referent study.

A case-referent study on soft tissue sarcomas (STS) was conducted, to see if previous findings regarding an association between exposure to phenoxyacetic acids or chlorophenols and this tumor type could be reproduced. Fifty-five male STS patients were thereby compared with 220 living and 110 dead population-based referents. Furthermore, another referent group consisting of 190 patients with another type of malignant disease was used in order to evaluate any influence of recall bias on the results. To obtain information about exposure to the studied chemicals, as well as about any other exposures that might be of interest, questionnaires were used, and if necessary these were completed over the phone by an interviewer who had no information regarding case-referent status. All analysis and interpretation of exposure data were done in a blinded manner. Exposure to phenoxyacetic acids gave a roughly three-fold increased risk for STS, thereby confirming previous findings, whereas exposure to chlorophenols was not associated with STS in this study.