CRP and diabetes mellitus: Regarding inflammatory maker, PCSK9 levels were significantly and positively associated with hs-CRP in the whole cohort (r = 0.112, P < 0.001), and the correlation was stronger in DM patients (r = 0.205, P = 0.001) than in non-DM patients (r = 0.076, P = 0.041) (Table 2).