A hospital-based case-control study of renal-cell carcinoma was conducted in France from 1987 to 1991. A total of 196 histologically confirmed cases (138 males and 58 females) and 347 controls (235 males and 112 females), matched for sex, age at interview, hospital and interviewer, were included. The risk of renal-cell carcinoma was not apparently increased with number of cigarettes per day, duration of smoking or early age at first cigarette smoking in males. No significant trend was found in the risks with increasing Quetelet index (QI) at the age of 20 in males. On the contrary, the risks increased significantly with an increasing QI prior to diagnosis. In females, the trends in risks were 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, in males or in females.