INTRODUCTION: Health literacy is a cornerstone of prevention, while sex specific prevention of cardiovascular disease, a leading cause of death of women worldwide, remains less addressed and is still more a matter of local cultural habits than guideline-directed management. METHODS: A validated multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ) designed to both educate patients and help the healthcare team learn about their traditional and sex specific modern risk factors (RF) management, including opting for comprehensive personalized long term follow up (FU) was offered to all in-patients. RESULTS: Out of 130 patients hospitalized at our department (Jan 1, 2024 - Feb 24, 2024) who were offered to fill in the MCQ, 37.7% accepted to do so, while 11.5% were excluded on ethical grounds. Women (49%) were older than men, had a more significant burden of traditional RF and possessed higher levels of knowledge and interest in RFs of both sexes, while men - especially those who declined to participate without a clear reason - even stated having no interest in their female relatives' risk profiles. Men, unlike women, showed no particular interest in a personalized and tech-savvy options of FU, although they equally use hand-held devices. CONCLUSION: These results confirm the findings obtained from a similar study conducted on an all-female sample in the same setting a year ago. However, results in men were surprising for the hostility exhibited towards junior and mid-career women which was absent when approached by a senior male member of the healthcare team. This confirms that misogyny needs to be actively suppressed.

Background/Objectives: The thyroid gland has an important influence on the heart. Long-term exposure to high levels of thyroid hormones may lead to cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction. The aim of the study was to evaluate the morphological and functional changes in the left ventricle in patients with hyperthyroidism caused by Graves’ disease (GD) in comparison with healthy individuals, as well as to investigate potential differences in these parameters in GD patients in relation to the presence of orbitopathy. Methods: The prospective study included 39 patients with clinical manifestations and laboratory confirmation of GD and 35 healthy controls. All participants underwent a detailed echocardiographic examination. The groups were compared according to demographic characteristics (age and gender), heart rate and echocardiographic characteristics. Results: The patients with hyperthyroidism caused by GD had significantly higher values of left ventricular diameter, left ventricular volume and left ventricular mass compared to the healthy controls. In addition, hyperthyroidism significantly influenced the left ventricular contractility and led to the deterioration of the systolic and diastolic function, as shown together by longitudinal strain, color Doppler and tissue Doppler imaging. However, the patients with GD and orbitopathy showed better left ventricular function than those without orbitopathy. Conclusions: Besides the confirmation of previously known findings, our study indicates possible differences in echocardiographic parameters in GD patients in relation to the presence of orbitopathy. Further investigation with larger samples and meta-analyses of data focused on the evaluation of echocardiographic findings in the context of detailed biochemical and molecular analyses is required to confirm our preliminary results and their clinical significance.

Cardiovascular and oncological diseases represent an inevitable part of everyday medical practice at all levels of health care. Apart from common risk factors, these diseases are associated in other ways, and the potential cardiotoxicity of antineoplastic drugs is particularly significant. One of the frequent forms of cardiotoxicity is hypertension. Considering that it can manifest at any time during antineoplastic therapy and also after the completion of specific oncological treatment, onco-hypertension is a clinical entity that should always be kept in mind when caring for oncology patients. Regular arterial blood pressure checks in this population are necessary to ensure timely recognition and treatment of onco-hypertension and to carry out oncological treatment safely. Although the guidelines for the treatment of onco-hypertension are similar to the general recommendations for hypertension, some specificities primarily concern the choice of antihypertensive drugs and exceptions to target arterial blood pressure values depending on the stage of the oncological disease and its prognosis. It is crucial to recognize the time to stop cardiotoxic antineoplastic therapy or reduce the dose of the antineoplastic drug to avoid life-threatening cardiovascular complications. Numerous additional factors encountered in oncology patients, such as comorbidities, the presence of pain or other administered drugs, significantly contribute to the complexity of onco-hypertension. Given that this is a very sensitive population exposed to a specific type of psychological stress, the possibility of the "white coat effect" as well as masked hypertension should also be considered.