NPPB and hematocrit: Moreover, the ROC analyses performed in the current study showed that there was a high sensitivity and specificity for the predictive validity of cortisol (100 % sensitivity and 92.31 % specificity), aldosterone (100 % sensitivity and 92.32 % specificity), NT-proBNP (100 % sensitivity and 92.308 % specificity) in differentiating between pre-HT group vs HT metabolic syndrome groups.