Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Cardiologists Dispute White House Physician's Rosy Assessment Of Trump's Heart Health
The New York Times: Trump’s Physical Revealed Serious Heart Concerns, Outside Experts Say
Cardiologists not associated with the White House said Wednesday that President Trump’s physical exam revealed serious heart concerns, including very high levels of so-called bad cholesterol, which raises the risk that Mr. Trump could have a heart attack while in office. Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, a rear admiral and the White House physician, said Tuesday in his report on the president’s medical condition that Mr. Trump was in “excellent” cardiac health despite having an LDL cholesterol level of 143, well above the desired level of 100 or less. (Shear and Kolata, 1/17)
Stat: Will Trump's 'Incredible Genes' Keep Protecting His Health?
Unless someone swipes one of President Trump’s used forks from the Mar-a-Lago dining room and sends it to 23andMe for DNA analysis, the world will simply have to guess what the White House physician meant when he told reporters on Tuesday that Trump “has incredible genes, I just assume.” “Incredible genes” may seem like hand-waving, but there’s no question some genetic variants protect against heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and other killers. And Trump chose his parents well: His father died of pneumonia at 93 after developing Alzheimer’s disease but apparently avoiding cancer and heart disease. His mother lived to 88; her cause of death was not reported, but her only known ailment was osteoporosis. (Begley, 1/17)
The Associated Press: What About The Memory Test Trump Aced? It's Not For Everyone
Drawing a clock. Counting backward by sevens. Rattling off words that begin with "F'' before a minute's up. They may not sound like difficult tasks, but they're part of a cognitive exam that's getting a lot of attention because President Donald Trump aced it. For all their apparent simplicity, 10-minute quizzes like the Montreal Cognitive Assessment offer doctors a snapshot of someone's memory and certain other neurologic functions, one piece of information to help determine if trouble's brewing. (1/17)
