WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump passed a test for signs of dementiaand is in overall excellent health, but needs to shed weight by cuttingcalories, fats and carbohydrates and starting a daily exercise routine, theWhite House physician said.
Trump, who was coy about sharing medical information during hisunconventional 2016 run for office, used his first presidential medicalexam – conducted on Friday at Walter Reed National Medical Center – to tryto put to rest lingering questions about his mental fitness for office.
Trump asked his physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson, to add a cognitive screeningtest to the exam, and authorized him to release a battery of data from thetests.
Trump, 71, is known to enjoy high-fat foods like fried chicken, hamburgersand steak – and, while he plays golf, he does not have a daily exerciseroutine.
Jackson said Trump is going to try to lose 10 to 15 pounds (4.5 to 6.8 kg)by eating better and starting to exercise,
The Navy doctor exhausted reporters’ questions during an unusually lengthyhour-long session, at Trump’s request, and said he did not withhold anyinformation in the interests of privacy.
“He said, ‘I want you to get out there and I want you to talk to them and Iwant you to answer every single question they have,’” Jackson said of Trump.COGNITIVE TEST
Trump’s mental fitness for the job had come under intense scrutiny after arecently published, controversial book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the TrumpWhite House,” portrayed him as childlike and mercurial.
Past presidents are not known to have been tested for mental acuity whilein office – including Ronald Reagan, who five years after leaving the WhiteHouse in 1989 was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, an incurable,degenerative brain condition.
Jackson, who speaks with Trump a few times a day and travels with him, saidhe did not think the president needed cognitive testing based on medicalguidelines – but added the 30-question Montreal Cognitive Assessment atTrump’s request.
The test looks for signs of Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. Samplequestions include asking the patient to draw a clockface, putting in all ofthe numbers and setting the clock hands to a specific time. The test doesnot assess psychiatric fitness.
Trump scored 30 out of 30 on the test, Jackson said. “The president ismentally very sharp, very intact,” the doctor said.
Dr. Ronald Petersen, an Alzheimer’s expert at the prestigious Mayo Clinic,said he could not comment specifically on the president’s cognitive health.However, he did say that, in theory, a perfect score on the Montreal testdoes not necessarily rule out cognitive decline. It is “just one measure ina clinical judgment,” he said in an email.MORE ENTHUSED ABOUT DIET THAN EXERCISE
Trump is considered overweight and borderline obese at 6 feet 3 inches (1.9meters) tall and 239 pounds (108 kg). His blood pressure was 122/74, withinnormal bounds, and his cholesterol was on the high side, Jackson said.
But the physician said Trump’s cardiac health was excellent, noting thepresident had undergone an exercise stress test, and said he consultedcardiologists about Trump’s coronary calcium score.
Jackson credited the results to genetics. “It’s just the way God made him,”he told reporters.
Jackson said he would increase Trump’s daily dose of Crestor, acholesterol-lowering drug, and bring in a nutritionist to work with WhiteHouse chefs. The doctor said he would also design a daily exercise programfor Trump.
“He’s more enthusiastic about the diet part than the exercise part, butwe’re going to do both,” Jackson said, adding that he might enlist firstlady Melania Trump to help.
Ranit Mishori, an attending physician at Georgetown University-ProvidenceHospital in Washington, said Trump received more screening and diagnostictests than are generally recommended for someone at his age and with hismedical history.
With his reported eating habits and lack of exercise, it made sense for theWhite House to “release all of this data to show that … he is in goodhealth,” Mishori said.
Even without red flags from test results, Mishori said it was clear thatTrump faces some risks.
“He is a male and he is in his 70s and he is overweight, borderline obese,and he has high cholesterol. Those four factors alone put him at a higherrisk for cardiovascular disease,” she said.
Mishori disagreed with Jackson’s assessment that Trump would be healthy forthe rest of his term and possibly a second four-year term. “This was a bitof a snapshot in time,” she said. “I don’t think this can be a definitivesign that he will be in this same state of health for the remainder of histerm.”