Trump Gets Early Start on Annual Checkup With Saturday Tests
President Donald Trump started his annual physical exam on Saturday.
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Saturday for a “quick exam and labs” related to his annual physical exam, the White House said.
“Anticipating a very busy 2020, the president is taking advantage of a free weekend here in Washington, D.C., to begin portions of his routine annual physical exam at Walter Reed,” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in an emailed statement.
Trump’s previous checkups as president have followed a fairly regular annual schedule. His most recent was in February and the previous assessment was done in January 2018.
“The president remains healthy and energetic without complaints, as demonstrated by his repeated vigorous rally performances in front of thousands of Americans several times a week,” Grisham said following the visit.
After his most recent physical exam, Sean Conley, the physician to the president, determined that Trump was in “very good health.” Trump was found in February to weigh 243 pounds -- a four-pound gain from 2018 -- putting his body mass index at 30.4 and making him clinically obese. His dose of rosuvastatin, a medication for treating high cholesterol, was increased, according to a statement at the time from Conley.
During his 2018 visit, Trump was urged to lose weight, though White House spokesman Hogan Gidley conceded in February the president had not “religiously” followed that guidance.
Trump himself has not tried to hide his fondness for unhealthy fare, having once tweeted a photo of himself with a bucket of fried chicken and previously boasting about chocolate cake at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Prior Exams
Past medical reports on Trump have stirred controversy. A 2015 note from the president’s then personal doctor, Harold Bornstein, claimed Trump would be the “healthiest individual ever elected,” and that his laboratory tests were “astonishingly excellent.”
Later, Bornstein told CNN the letter had been dictated by Trump himself.
Trump’s January 2018 exam, which was conducted by Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson, came after some lawmakers raised questions about the president’s mental fitness for office. Jackson said Trump was in “excellent health” and had “great genes.”
The White House-provided summary of Trump’s 2018 physical, which is more detailed than the report released in February, showed that in addition to rosuvastatin, the president was taking a daily aspirin and multi-vitamin as well as using finasteride, the drug to prevent male pattern hair loss marketed under the brand name Propecia. Trump was also taking ivermectin cream as needed for the treatment of rosacea, a skin condition that causes redness in the face.
Months later, Trump tapped Jackson to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, though allegations of improper behavior later prompted him to withdraw from consideration. Trump named Jackson his chief medical adviser in February.
--With assistance from Justin Sink.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Washington at jdlouhy1@bloomberg.net;Ariella Phillips in Washington at aphillips163@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu, Steve Geimann
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.