By Robert Costa
The Washington Post
Donald Trump has provided to The Washington Post a letter that summarizes his latest physical exam and discussed the results on a television show scheduled to air Thursday afternoon, bringing his health to the fore of the presidential race.
Trump disclosed the one-page letter from his longtime doctor, Harold Bornstein, to The Washington Post on Thursday.
The letter says that Trump takes a statin, a drug for lowering cholesterol, and has a body mass index in the overweight range. Overall, he is described as having “excellent physical health.”
“He takes a lipid lowering agent (rosuvastatin) and a low dose aspirin. He does not use tobacco products or alcohol,” Bornstein writes.
A day earlier, Trump had a conversation about the document with talk-show host and surgeon Mehmet Oz during a taping in New York. Oz’s exchange with the Republican presidential nominee will be broadcast Thursday afternoon on his syndicated program.
While the letter released by Trump gives more information on his health and physical makeup than previously known, it does not constitute his medical records nor does it give extensive detail about past health matters.
A gastroenterological specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, Bornstein circulated a letter last year attesting to Trump’s “extraordinary” health and said Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
But Bornstein later made headlines when he told NBC News that he wrote the letter quickly as a Trump associate waited to collect it, though he stood by his glowing assessment.
In the letter released Thursday, which is dated Sept. 13, Bornstein states that Trump, 70, has been under his care since 1980, and sits for an annual physical exam. The candidate is listed as 6 foot 3 inches tall and weighing 236 pounds, making him overweight for his height.
Bornstein goes on to list aspects of Trump’s medical profile, including Trump’s lone hospitalization.
“Mr. Trump was hospitalized only once, as a child of 11 years old for an appendectomy,” Bornstein writes.
Trump’s “laboratory results” from a blood test and other exams are also given. He has a cholesterol level of 169, with his level of high-density lipoproteins at 63, his low-density lipoproteins at 94.
The businessman’s blood pressure is 116 over 70. His blood sugar level is 99 milligrams per deciliter. Trump’s level of triglycerides, which are a type of fat in blood, is 61 milligrams per deciliter. And his prostate-specific antigen level is measured as 0.15.
“His liver function and thyroid function tests are all within the normal range,” Bornstein writes, adding that “his last colonoscopy was performed on July 10, 2013 which was normal and revealed no polyps.”
Trump’s latest electrocardiogram test and chest X-ray took place in April 2016 and were “normal.”
With regard to Trump’s heart, Bornstein writes that “his cardiac evaluation included a transthoracic echocardiogram” in December 2014 and “this study was reported within the range of normal.”
Bornstein notes that there is “no family history of premature cardiac or neoplastic disease” and that Trump’s parents, Fred and Mary, “lived into their late 80s and 90s.”
Trump’s testosterone level is 441.6.
Trump first displayed the letter during his taping with Oz, who is popular nationally but whose credibility has been questioned by critics, after asking the audience whether he should.
“Well, I really have no problem in doing it,” Trump said, according to a clip released by the show on Wednesday. “I have it right here. Should I do it? I don’t care. Should I do it?”
The audience cheered and Trump then handed Oz the letter along with a letter certifying that Bornstein is an appointed and active member of the Lenox Hill staff.
“I feel as good today as I did when I was 30,” Trump said on the show, according to another clip.
Speaking on NBC’s “Today” on Thursday, Oz said that based on Bornstein’s letter, “If I as doctor had a patient like him, I would think he had good health for a man of his age and I’d send him on his way.” But he has not tested Trump on his own.
Trump’s activity comes as Democratic rival Hillary Clinton is returning to the campaign trail following a bout of pneumonia.
Trump, who has been relatively restrained in responding to questions this week about Clinton’s health, on Wednesday began wondering aloud, tauntingly, about whether Clinton could hold hour-long rallies.
“I don’t know, folks. Do you think Hillary could stand up here for an hour?” Trump asked thousands of supporters on Wednesday in Canton, Ohio, where he held an event.
Clinton’s campaign on Wednesday released a two-page letter from her doctor that said she had been treated this week for for “mild” bacterial pneumonia but is in overall good health and “fit to serve as president.”
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