Coronary heart disease and PAD shared 7 of the 9 factors from ASSIGN: age, sex, family history, socioeconomic status, diabetes mellitus, tobacco smoking, and systolic blood pressure (but neither total nor high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol); plus 4 new ones: NT‐pro‐BNP, cotinine, high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein, and cystatin‐C. The gene discussed is NPPB; the disease is peripheral arterial disease.