NPPB and hypertensive disorder: Subsequently, we aimed at evaluating whether sST2, hs-cTnI, and NT-proBNP, alone or in combination, were able to predict 15-year survival in T2DM patients and whether they added significantly to a reference model including the most relevant clinical and biochemical predictors, i.e. sex, age, smoking status, hypertension, T2DM duration, BMI, HbA1c, blood lipids, eGFR, and hs-CRP, using Kaplan-Maier and univariable and multivariable Cox regression methods.