Yamashiro, Kenji
Takahashi, Hiroshi
Hayashino, Yasuaki
Origasa, Hideki
Izumi, Kazuo
Tajima, Naoko
Nishimura, Rimei
Article History
Received: 10 January 2024
First Online: 23 May 2024
Declarations
:
: Rimei Nishimura received lecture fees from Sanofi K.K., Medtronic Japan, Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Kissei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Eli Lily Japan K.K., Nov Nordisk Pharma Ltd., MSD Co., Ltd., Astellas Pharma Inc., and Abbott Japan Co., Ltd., and scholarship endowments from Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd., and Abbott Japan Co., Ltd. Kenji Yamashiro received scholarship endowments from Teijin Pharma Ltd. and Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Hiroshi Takahashi received lecture meeting fees from Eli Lily Japan K.K.
: In this study, the Declaration of Helsinki and the “Ethical Guidelines in Epidemiological Research” complied by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (as applicable in the study period) [] were followed to obtain informed consent from study participants, to protect their rights and welfare, and to protect them against any potential harm and risk associated with the conduct of the study. The informed consent form as part of the study protocol clearly stated that ophthalmologic and dental examinations were to be conducted as appropriate in routine care setting to ensure no additional time or financial burden on the part of the patient being examined. This study, currently registered with the University Hospital Medical Information Network center (registry ID, UMIN000016519), was approved by the JDS Ethics Review Committee for Scientific Surveys and Studies and by the institutional review board (IRB) of each participating facility. An ad hoc ethics Committee was convened at the request of the principal investigator if the required review process was not feasible at any participating institution. Care was also taken to ensure that all data obtained from the study was anonymized in a linkable fashion to protect the privacy of all study participants.