NPPB and Hypertension: We observed a positive and significant relationship between HbA1c, hs-CRP, Hcy, and NT-proBNP levels, and presence of hypertension after multivariate adjustment for potential confounders, including age, gender, cigarette status, alcohol use, physical activity, LDL, TC, HDL, TG, and creatinine (Model 1 and 2, in Table 8).