Secondly, in a longitudinal study of 768 patients in the community without known heart disease, both markers predicted development of heart disease at 20 year follow up with hazard ratios of 1.36 (Ang2) and 1.29 (TSP2) per standard deviation of biomarker level, again independent of NT-proBNP (25). The gene discussed is NPPB; the disease is heart disorder.