NPPB and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: In patients with COPD, an increase in cardiac biomarkers from the stable state to exacerbation were significantly higher in those patients with known ischemic heart disease compared with those without this condition [(mean ± standard deviation (SD) increase NT-proBNP, 38.1 (±37.7) vs. 5.9 (±12.3) pg/mL, p < 0.001] [84]