CRP and diabetes mellitus: Based on the key role of inflammation-associated non-cardiac comorbidities (e.g., obesity, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease) in HFpEF-pathophysiology, these patients present with higher levels of circulating pro-inflammatory biomarkers including IL-6, TNF-α and C-reactive protein (CRP; Abernethy et al., 2018), monocytosis, and pro-inflammatory monocyte differentiation (Glezeva et al., 2015).