NPPB and Hypertension: Thus, in a random sample from Rochester, Minnesota, consisting of 2,082 individuals, age above 45 years, participants with prehypertension and stage I hypertension unexpectedly had (or tended to have when taking their higher blood pressure into account) lower circulating concentrations of BNP and NT-proBNP than normotensive participants, whereas participants with stage II hypertension had the highest circulating concentrations of BNP and NT-proBNP [29].