About the Authors

Natasha Bergmann

n.c.bergmann@hotmail.com

Affiliation Herlev University Hospital, Department of Endocrinology, Herlev, Denmark

Søren Ballegaard

Affiliation Ull Care A/S, Hellerup, Denmark

Per Bech

Affiliation Psychiatric Research Unit, Psychiatric Centre North Zealand, Hillerød, Denmark

Åke Hjalmarson

Affiliation Department of Cardiology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden

Jesper Krogh

Affiliation Herlev University Hospital, Department of Endocrinology, Herlev, Denmark

Finn Gyntelberg

Affiliation The National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark

Jens Faber

Affiliations Herlev University Hospital, Department of Endocrinology, Herlev, Denmark, Faculty of Health Sciences, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark

Competing Interests

Søren Ballegaard invented the instrument used to measure PPS (Ullmeter, patent numbers: PA 2004-00349; PA 2004-00550) and is a shareholder of the firm that owns the PPS instrument (Ullcare A/S). In order to avoid bias, he was not involved in patient contact, collection of data or statistical analysis and was prohibited admittance to the research site during the entire period of the study. His authorship does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The other authors have no competing interests to declare and no relation to Ullcare A/S including employment, consultancy, patents, products in development or marketed products.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SB, PB, AH, FG, JF. Performed the experiments: NB, JF. Analyzed the data: NB, JK, JF. Wrote the paper: NB, SB, JK, PB, AH, FG, JF.