We recruited cases from thirteen hospitals. A detailed description and link to the respective hospitals is available on the EAGLE website [8]. The first diagnosis of all lung cancer cases occurred in the period between April 22nd, 2002 and February 28th, 2005, and enrollment continued until June 30th, 2005. Two research physicians per hospital reviewed daily hospital admission logs in different departments, identified cases of suspected lung cancer in the specified age range and from the catchment area, and arranged for collection of blood specimens and for subject interview. Rapid communication with the central institute from each hospital was performed using a web-based case-registry connected through dedicated Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) lines. Reasons for non-eligibility were recorded for all subjects. Subjects who declined to participate were asked to answer a few questions on smoking and demographic characteristics that allowed us to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the lung cancer cases of the area within the study period.
