Figure 1.

Process of patient selection in this study. Of the 127 patients who visited the Jichi Medical School Hospital, met the enrollment criteria and were provided with an explanation for obtaining consent, just 102 were able to provide consent. A total of 96 patients were enrolled in the study, excluding five patients who withdrew their consent and one patient who did not meet the selection criteria. The 96 patients were randomly divided into two groups: (i) those who received nutritional education by a dietitian at each outpatient visit; or (ii) those who received nutritional education by a dietitian once a year. After excluding nine patients (five patients who refused nutritional education in the intensive intervention group [INT], and one patient who refused nutritional education, one patient who did not come to the hospital, one patient who was transferred after hospitalization and one patient who did not receive a request for nutritional education from a physician in the control group [CON]), 44 patients in INT and 43 patients in CON who completed 2 years of follow‐up were included in the randomized controlled trial. DKD, diabetic kidney disease.