NPPB and type 2 diabetes mellitus: Consistently, two studies performed by Jurado et al. and Hamano et al. have reported a significant positive relationship between levels of N-terminal pro-BNP (NT-proBNP), a biologically inactive fragment of BNP, and the presence of DPN, independently of previous CVD or cardiovascular risk factors such as body mass index (BMI) and glycated hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c), in patients with T2DM [6, 7].