Reassuringly, we found that missing saliva EBV genotyping data was not associated with increased risk of NPC, and it was unrelated to the majority of NPC risk factors, including sex (which was explained by smoking), age, salted-fish consumption, educational level, family history of NPC and VCA/EBNA1-IgA in our data. This evidence concerns the gene CD79A and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.