Biden, 80, is healthy, 'fit for duty,' doctor says after physical
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[February 17, 2023]
By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland
BETHESDA, Md. (Reuters) -Doctors declared U.S. President Joe Biden, 80,
healthy and "fit for duty" on Thursday after a physical examination that
included removing a lesion from his chest and declaring him free of
symptoms of long COVID after his bout last year with the virus.
"The president remains fit for duty, and fully executes all of his
responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations," White House
physician Kevin O'Connor said in a summary of the health exam.
The exam was closely watched as Biden prepares for his expected run for
a second term in 2024. The summary said Biden did not have any "long
COVID" symptoms and that his stiff gait has not worsened since his last
exam in November 2021.
Biden said his physical went well. "Everything really went well... Thank
God for small favors," he told NBC News.
Biden's three-hour session with doctors at Walter Reed National Military
Medical Center in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, was his
second extensive exam since taking office in January 2021.
Biden takes the statin Crestor to keep his cholesterol levels low, an
anti-coagulant in response to atrial fibrillation that remains
asymptomatic and medication to treaty seasonal allergies and acid
reflux, the summary said.
Several small skin growths were moved from his face and head using
liquid nitrogen and "one small lesion on the president's chest was
excised today and sent for traditional biopsy," O'Connor said. Results
are pending.
The summary found that Biden's weight had dropped six pounds, from 184
pounds in 2021 to 178. His body mass index was at 24.1 compared to 25.0
in 2021, and his blood pressure was at 126/78 compared to 120/70 in
2021.
The summary made no mention of whether Biden underwent any cognitive
tests sometimes given to people of his age.
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U.S. President Joe Biden delivers
remarks while launching a new plan for Americans to receive booster
shots and vaccinations against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19),
onstage in an auditorium on the White House campus in Washington,
U.S. October 25, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
O'Connor said Biden's back stiffness is a result of significant
spinal arthritis.
"The president's gait remains stiff, but has not worsened since last
year," he said.
Biden, the oldest person ever to serve as U.S. president, has waved
off questions about his age, but polls indicate voters have concerns
about his ability to serve four more years if he wins in 2024.
Asked about the concerns over Biden's age, White House press
secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters: "This is a president
that works day in and day out, you know, in a grueling fashion with
a grueling schedule, and delivers."
About three-quarters of Americans - including more than half of
Democrats and the vast majority of Republicans - say Biden is too
old to work in government, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll
conducted Feb. 6 to 13. Most Democratic respondents said the
president remains mentally sharp but about half of them said he
cannot handle the physical toll of the presidency.
Biden does not drink alcohol or smoke tobacco and works out five
times a week, the physical noted.
Biden would be 86 by the end of a prospective second term, making
him 13 years older than the average life expectancy of an American
male, according to 2020 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) data.
Biden said during a PBS interview last week that any Americans
concerned about his age should "watch me" perform the duties of the
presidency.
First lady Jill Biden, 71, last month had cancerous skin lesions
removed.
(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Jason Lange; Editing by
Heather Timmons, Leslie Adler and Josie Kao)
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