Ethics approval and consent to participate
This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the Ethical Guidelines for Epidemiological Research in Japan. The institutional review board of Tokyo Medical and Dental University as main center (approval number: M2000-2084-01) and the additional 23 institutions approved our retrospective study without personally identifiable information. Patients received posters informing the present study, or the posters were displayed in outpatient clinic of each facility.
Consent for publication
Not applicable
Availability of data and materials
All of the data supporting the conclusions of this article are included within the article.
Competing interests
TS has received research grants and/or honoraria from Abbvie Japan Co., Ltd., AsahiKASEI Co., Ltd., Astellas Pharma Inc., Ayumi Pharmaceutical, Bristol Myers Squibb K.K., Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo., Eli Lilly Japan K.K., Mitsubishi-Tanabe Pharma Co., Ono Pharmaceutical, Pfizer Japan Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., and UCB Japan Co. Ltd.. Tokyo Medical and Dental University received unrestricted research grants for Department of Lifetime Clinical Immunology from Ayumi Pharmaceutical Corporation, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., CSL Behring K.K., Japan Blood Products Organization, and UCB Japan Co. Ltd. HH has received honoraria from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Mitsubishi-Tanabe Pharma Co., Astellas Pharma Inc., Bristol Myers Squibb K.K., Pfizer Japan Inc., Eli Lilly Japan K.K., AsahiKASEI Co., Ltd., Teijin Pharma Ltd, and Abbvie Japan Co., Ltd.. HAU belongs to the Department of Chronic Kidney Disease and Cardiovascular Disease which is endowed by Chugai pharmaceutical, MSD, Boehringer Ingelheim and Kawanishi Holdings. HY has received lecture fees from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Nihon Medi-Physics Co., Ltd. YW have received honoraria from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.. EA belongs to the Department of Therapeutic Strategy for Heart Failure, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, which is endowed by Actelion Pharmaceuticals Japan Ltd., Otsuka Pharmaceutical, NIPRO CORPORATION, Terumo Corp., Senko Medical Instrument Mfg., Century Medical Inc., Kinetic Concepts Inc., St. Jude Medical. EA has received honoraria from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Bayer Yakuhin. Ltd., Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. YM have received honoraria from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.. MK have nothing to declare. YM has received honoraria from Abbvie, Astellas, Ayumi Pharmaceutical, Bristol Myers Squibb, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Eisai Pharmaceutical, Janssen Pharmaceutical, Kissei Pharmaceutical, Nippon Kayaku, Pfizer Pharmaceutical, Takeda Pharmaceutical, UCB Pharmaceutical, and has received research grant support from Asahi Kasei Pharma, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai Pharmaceutical, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, Nippon Kayaku, Ono Pharmaceutical, Gilead Sciences Inc, Janssen Pharmaceutical, and Teijin Pharma. NO and SF have nothing to declare. YK has received honoraria from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Glaxo-Smithkline K.K., Sanofi K.K., Pfizer Japan Inc., and Asahi Kasei Pharma Corp. YK has received consulting fees from Chugai, Kyowa Hakko Kirin, Asahi Kasei, UCB and speakers’ fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novartis, Daiichi Sankyo, AbbVie, Nippon Shinyaku, Towa. TN has received research grants and lecture fees from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.. TO has received research grants from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Eisai Pharmaceutical., and Actelion. YT has received consulting fees, speaking fees, and/or honoraria from Daiichi-Sankyo, Astellas, Pfizer, Mitsubishi-Tanabe, Bristol-Myers, Chugai, YL Biologics, Eli Lilly, Sanofi, Janssen, UCB and has received research grants from Mitsubishi-Tanabe, Takeda, Bristol-Myers, Chugai, Astellas, Abbvie, MSD, Daiichi-Sankyo, Pfizer, Kyowa- Kirin, Eisai, Ono. TT has received research grants from Astellas, Chugai, Daiichi Sankyo, Takeda, AbbVie, Asahi Kasei, Mitsubishi Tanabe, Pfizer, Eisai, AYUMI, Nippon Kayaku, and Novartis, has received consulting fees from Astra Zeneca, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Mitsubishi Tanabe, AbbVie, Nippon Kayaku, Janssen, Astellas, Taiho, Chugai, Taisho Toyama, GlaxoSmithKline, and UCB, and has served on speakers’ fees for AbbVie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chugai, Mitsubishi Tanabe, Pfizer, Astellas, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, Sanofi, Teijin, Takeda, and Novartis. YN has received research grants from Bayer Yakuhin,Ltd, and has received consulting fees and/or lecture fees and/or research grants from Chugai, has received consulting fees and/or lecture fees from AbbVie, and has received lecture fees from Astellas, Pfizer, MSD, Daiichi Sankyo, Kowa. YA has received honoraria from Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Co., Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd., Chugai Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd., Teijin Pharma, Ltd., Asahi Kasei Corporation, AbbVie GK, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline K.K., KYORIN Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd., Kyowa Hakko Kirin Company, Limited, and Astellas Pharma Inc. MH has received research grants and/or honoraria from Abbott Japan Co., Ltd.; Astellas Pharma Inc.; Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K.; Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; Eisai Co., Ltd.; Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K.; Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Co.; Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; Teijin Pharma, Ltd.; and Pfizer Japan Inc. MI has received research grants and/or honoraria from Chugai, Ono, Otsuka, Teijin, Mitsubishi-Tanabe and Daiichi Sankyo.
Funding
This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (H29-nanchitou (nan)-ippan-018) and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) (JP17ek0109121).
Authors' contributions
TS and MH were responsible for conception and design, data collection and analysis, critical revision, and manuscript writing. HH, HAU, HY, YN YW, YA, and MI were responsible for conception and design, data collection and analysis, and critical revision. EA, YM, MK, YM, NO, SF, YK, YK, TN, TO, YT, and TT were responsible for data collection and analysis, and critical revision. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge all investigators in Japan Research Committee of the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare for Intractable Vasculitis (JPVAS). In addition to the authors, the following investigators and institutions participated in this study: Department of Internal Medicine, Juntendo University Koshigaya Hospital (Shigeto Kobayashi); Division of Rheumatology, Endocrinology and Nephrology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine (Tetsuya Horita); Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Hematology, Rheumatology and Respiratory Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University (Hiroaki Dobashi); Department of Nephrology and Dialysis, Kitano Hospital, Tazuke Kofukai Medical Research Institute (Eri Muso); Department of Hematology, Oncology, Nephrology, and Rheumatology, Akita University School of Medicine (Atsushi Komatsuda); Niigata Rheumatic Center (Satoshi Ito); Niigata Prefectural Shibata Hospital (Noriyuki Homma); Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kawasaki Medical School (Kazuo Tanemoto); Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine (Hiroshi Akazawa, Issei Komuro); Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Saitama Medical Center, Saitama Medical University (Koichi Amano); Department of Immunology and Rheumatology, Clinical Neuroscience and Neurology, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (Atsushi Kawakami); Division of Nephrology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Institute of Medical, Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Kanazawa University (Takashi Wada); Division of Clinical Immunology, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba (Taichi Hayashi); Kurobe City Hospital (Shinichi Takeda).