© 2025 WGCU News
PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

White House doctor says Trump is 'fully fit' in medical report

President Trump prepares to watch the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the Kaseya Center on Saturday in Miami, Fla.
Joe Raedle
/
Getty Images
President Trump prepares to watch the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the Kaseya Center on Saturday in Miami, Fla.

Updated April 13, 2025 at 11:56 AM ET

President Trump "exhibits excellent cognitive and physical health and is fully fit," according to White House physician Capt. Sean Barbabella.

The White House released Trump's three-page medical report Sunday morning following the president's annual physical examination at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday.

"President Trump remains in excellent health, exhibiting robust cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and general physical function," Barbabella said.

Trump, 78, is the oldest president to take the oath of office in the White House. Former President Joe Biden was a few months younger when he started his term and visibly slowed down while in office — sparking political turmoil and concerns about his cognitive ability.

These medical records mark the first detailed information on Trump's health since the assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pa., in July.

The physical examination revealed a few "abnormalities," according to Barbabella. The first was "scarring on the right ear" from the gunshot wound sustained during the assassination attempt.

Barbabella said Trump's "hearing was normal." The second was a "diverticulosis and a benign polyp" revealed during a colonoscopy in July. Diverticulosis is when abnormal pouches form in the digestive tract.

The White House physician recommended a "follow-up colonoscopy in three years."

The medical report also showed that Trump weighs 224 pounds, 20 pounds lighter than he weighed in 2020. And his LDL — "bad" cholesterol levels — are now within an "optimal" range and lower than last reported in 2020. He is currently taking two cholesterol-control medications: rosuvastatin and ezetimibe. The latter medication was not noted in Trump's 2020 medical report.

Trump's vaccines are all "current," but Barbabella did not list specific immunizations.

The president's neurological exam "revealed no abnormalities in his mental status," according to Barbabella. Trump was assessed for cognitive function, depression and anxiety. He scored within the normal range in all categories.

"I took a cognitive test. And I don't know what to tell you, other than I got every answer right," Trump told reporters on Friday following his exams. "I took just a lot of different tests, having to do with the heart, having to do with other things."

At the end of Trump's medical report, the White House physician said Trump's days are full of meetings, public appearances, press conferences — and "frequent victories in golf events."

Presidents are not obligated to share medical data, and many have shrouded their medical records.

Trump's medical records over the years

One week after the Butler assassination attempt, Dr. Ronny Jackson — the president's former doctor and a congressman from Texas — released a memo on Trump's health.

Jackson said Trump was shot in the ear and "is doing well, and he is recovering as expected." Jackson also reported that Trump received a "CT of his head" and that a hearing exam would be scheduled. Medical data from those exams were not shared publicly at the time, but Sunday's release includes information from these exams.

In 2023, Trump released a brief doctor's letter that lacked detailed medical data. But it did say Trump had lost weight and that "his cognitive exams were exceptional." The Trump campaigned highlighted cognitive testing in the lead-up to the election.

In his final year as president, Biden's doctors chose not to give him a cognitive exam.

During his first term, Trump took a number of physical exam and released his medical data.

In 2018, Dr. Jackson gave Trump a glowing report. He said Trump had "great genes" and that if he had a healthier diet "he might live to be 200 years old." Jackson recommended the president lose some weight and cut back on fat and carbs.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Corrected: April 13, 2025 at 1:03 PM EDT
An earlier version of this article misidentified diverticulosis as a condition of inflammation and infection in the digestive tract; that is diverticulitis. Diverticulosis is when abnormal pouches form in the digestive tract.
Luke Garrett
Luke Garrett is an Elections Associate Producer at NPR News.
Trusted by over 30,000 local subscribers

Local News, Right Sized for Your Morning

Quick briefs when you are busy, deeper explainers when it matters, delivered early morning and curated by WGCU editors.

  • Environment
  • Local politics
  • Health
  • And more

Free and local. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

More from WGCU
  • Little Blue Herons are medium in size among herons – bigger than a Green Heron, but much smaller than a Great Blue Heron. The “blue color” of adults often tends towards gray and it helps them blend in with their aquatic environment. This heron is unusual in that its juvenile plumage is all white – a characteristic that allows it to blend in with other white birds – which it readily does, thus gaining “group” protection from potential predators and access to food resources found by the other species. Adults are much more solitary.
  • A series of storm systems will impact travelers over the weekend and early next week, bringing heavy snow to the Great Lakes, including Chicago.
  • Florida’s expansion of vouchers for families who want to enroll their children in private schools is leading to tighter budgets at public schools across the state. In 2023, the Republican-led Legislature passed a bill that eliminated the income requirement for families to receive the vouchers, called family empowerment scholarships and Florida tax credit scholarships. These vouchers, intended to help families who could not afford private education, allow for public state aid to be redirected to families to cover the costs of the private school.