Trump Is Healthy, Doctor Says in Report That Shows He’s Obese

President Donald Trump is healthy, his doctor said in a report on his medical condition that showed he remains obese as measured by his body-mass index.

“Based on my history, examination and consultations, the data indicates the president remains healthy,” the White House physician, Sean Conley, said in a June 3 memo released to reporters.

He said that Trump completed his third physical as president in April. Conley said Trump weighs 244 pounds, one pound more than his last physical, and is 6 feet, three inches tall -- a combination that places him just over the threshold for obesity, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

The White House doctor reported no significant changes to the president’s health. Trump’s cholesterol level is down compared to the past two years; he takes 40 milligrams daily of the statin rosuvastatin, more widely known under the brand name Crestor, sold by AstraZeneca Plc. His blood pressure was up slightly while his resting heart rate was slightly down.

Conley confirmed that Trump took a two-week course of a malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, after two White House staffers contracted Covid-19 in May. Trump took zinc and vitamin D supplements along with the drug, Conley said.

Trump Promoted Drug

Trump has promoted use of the drug to fight coronavirus infection though there is no strong clinical evidence it’s effective. The drug can cause serious cardiovascular side effects, and the Food and Drug Administration has warned it should only be used in hospitalized Covid-19 patients.

“This was done in consultation with his appropriate care team members and close monitoring of the electrocardiogram (EKG) for changes in the QT interval,” Conley said. “The President completed the regimen safely and without side effects.”

Despite Trump’s repeated attempts to tout the drug as an effective way to prevent contracting the virus, a new study of health-care workers, first responders and people living with Covid-19 patients showed it offered no protection.

The White House said Trump began the process of receiving his annual physical exam last November during an unannounced visit to a Washington-area hospital. That prompted speculation the president had a health problem, but then-press secretary Stephanie Grisham said it was for a routine examination and that it wasn’t announced because of “schedule uncertainties.”

Conley said the results of his report released Wednesday “summarized data from visits conducted between November 2019 and April 2020” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and at the White House.

The doctor did not explain the why the president’s physical took six months to complete.

(Updates with study on drug taken by Trump in eighth paragraph.)

--With assistance from Justin Sink and Michelle Fay Cortez.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Jordan Fabian in Washington at jfabian6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net

Justin Blum, Joshua Gallu

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