Although atherosclerosis was confined to one vascular territory in the majority of cases, patients with atherosclerosis in one territory had significantly higher risk of having disease in another territory, i.e., unadjusted and adjusted (for age, sex, diabetes duration, retinopathy, vibration threshold, and P-NT-proBNP) ORs for coronary atherosclerosis were 3.52 (1.89-8.11) and 2.62 (1. The gene discussed is NPPB; the disease is atherosclerosis.