NPPB and diabetes mellitus: To derive the NT-proBNP effect on CVD death independent of other cardiovascular risk factors, we further adjusted for serum creatinine, hypertension, diabetes, BMI, and the ratio of total to high density lipoprotein (model II) and found a similar effect (HR = 1.75, 95% CI = [1.33, 2.29], p = 5.17*10−5).