Kate and leopold: The odd couple

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) was traditionally considered a purely male disease, and for many years it was underestimated and under-recognized in women. Neverthe-less, the burden of CVD in women is increasing, so much so that CVD presently represents the leading cause of female mortality and disability in developing countries. The increased interest in this field highlighted the presence of gender-spe-cific differences in terms of clinical presentation, prevention, treatment, and prognosis. Biological and hormonal differences between sexes should not be underestimated, as they can affect clinical presentation and drug responses. This report is an example of the current gender-related prac-tice in the evaluation and treatment of high-risk cardiovascular patients. A 70-year-old lady with a history of coronary disease, diabetes, hypertension, Parkinson’s, rheumatoid arthritis, and hypothyroidism attended our outpatient clin-ic for continuous chest pain, exertional dyspnea, malleolar edema. A diagnosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction was reached after discussing several confounding factors.