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US-POLITICS-TRUMP-HEALTH
Trump puts on weight, but in ‘very good health:’ doctor
WASHINGTON, Feb 15, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump is technically
obese and has put on weight since last year, but his official doctor declared
him Thursday to be in “very good health.”
The presidential physician, Sean Conley, said Trump, 72, passed his medical
exam last week with flying colors.
“It is my determination that the president remains in very good health
overall,” he said in a brief statement.
Trump, who has confounded health experts with his penchant for junk food
and avoidance of strenuous exercise, weighs 243 pounds (110 kg), the report
said.
This is a little bulkier than the 239 pounds recorded last year, which was
already considered too much. The resting heart rate has gone up too, at 70
beats a minute, compared to 68 beats last year.
Doctor Theodore Strange, associate chair of medicine at Staten Island
University Hospital in New York, said after reviewing the findings that Trump
is technically obese.
The results “show a 72-year-old male who meets criteria for obesity with a
BMI (body mass index) of 30,” Strange said.
That contributes to the fact that “his cardiac risk scores are higher than
normal,” Strange said in a statement. However, the president is “in good
health despite being mildly obese.”
Trump has a history of high cholesterol and this year the dosage of his
anti-cholesterol medicine Rosuvastatin was raised from a low 10mg a day to
40mg, Conley said.
“There were no findings of significance or changes to report on his
physical exam, including the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth/gums, heart,
lungs, skin, gastrointestinal, and neurologic systems,” Conley’s medical
summary said.
Trump may have an unhealthy lifestyle and a stressful job, but on the plus
side he doesn’t smoke and is a noted teetotaler. He says he’s never even had
a beer.
Trump has described his chief exercise as walking around the White House
compound and standing up at public events. A slightly more active pastime is
his beloved golf.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1950HRS