NPPB and type 2 diabetes mellitus: In all T2DM patients, circulating levels of BNP were positively associated with sex (P = 0.010), age (P < 0.001), diabetic duration (P < 0.001), SBP (P < 0.001), HDL-C (P = 0.024), NLR (P = 0.015), urinary ACR (P < 0.001), VPT values (P = 0.002), and the prevalence of hypertension (P = 0.002), CHD (P = 0.001), stroke (P = 0.039), PAD (P < 0.001), DPN (P = 0.001), and DN (P = 0.001) and negatively with TG (P = 0.004), lymphocyte count (P = 0.001), eGFR (P < 0.001), and ABI (P = 0.038) (Table 2).