The White House memorandum describing President Trump’s recent physical examination lacks details of the results of tests to assess his cardiovascular health, according to physicians who read the report.
That is one of several areas of the report that doctors said stood out for its lack of specificity. The president spent about three hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Tuesday, where he underwent a battery of tests as part of his annual medical examination.
The president’s physician, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, wrote in a memorandum released late Friday that Trump “remains in excellent health, demonstrating strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and overall physical function.”
Barbabella’s description of Trump’s cardiac health cites results from a coronary CT angiography, typically done to check for narrowed or blocked arteries in the heart; an echocardiogram, which makes an image of the heart using sound waves; and an artificial-intelligence-enhanced electrocardiogram analysis. He said the AI analysis estimated the president’s cardiac age at 14 years younger than his actual age of 79.
Yet the White House memo didn’t include crucial information typically yielded from such tests that would provide evidence for Barbabella’s finding that Trump’s cardiac function is normal. Barbabella also said an ultrasound of the carotid arteries showed normal results without providing specific metrics.
“If I was creating a report to send to another physician, I would have mentioned a little bit more about the carotid ultrasound,” said Dr. William Shutze, a Texas vascular surgeon. “What amount of plaque there is going to be—because almost all of us are going to have some buildup there.”
To fully assess the president’s cardiac health, other doctors said they would want to see a calcium score, a description of any plaque in the arteries, and a CAD-RADS score to assess narrowing in the arteries. The report simply stated there is “no arterial obstruction or structural abnormalities” in the heart or major blood vessels, which could simply mean there isn’t a blockage, physicians said.
Additional detail from the echocardiogram, such as the ejection fraction—the percentage of blood pumped with each heart contraction—would also provide a fuller picture of the president’s health. Trump’s 2018 report did include a measurement of his ejection fraction.
Presidential health has come under enhanced scrutiny as Americans have selected elderly leaders. Trump, who will turn 80 in about two weeks, is the oldest person to become president. His predecessor Joe Biden was 82 when he left office.
“President Trump has publicly released more detailed information about his health than any other president in history—showing he is in excellent health,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a written statement. He criticized outside physicians for speculating about a report for a patient not under their care. There isn’t any law or requirement for presidents to share any health data.
The memo released Friday night was intended to provide overall findings of Trump’s examination, according to a statement from the White House. The absence of specific results should be seen as confirmation that no clinically meaningful abnormalities were identified, the White House statement said.
During Biden’s four-year term, he showed signs of decline even as his annual physicals gave him high marks for health. Biden abandoned his re-election campaign several weeks after a disastrous debate in June 2024.
Biden’s doctors didn’t provide prostate-specific antigen screening, which produces a PSA score that is used to help detect prostate cancer. Shortly after he left office, Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of advanced prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. Physicians have said it would have almost certainly been detected sooner had Biden’s physical included that test.
Trump’s physical includes a PSA score—reported as 1 ng/mL—a number that is higher than his previous scores but still well within a healthy range. It is normal for the score to rise as people age.
The report lacked detail in other key areas where Trump is known to have had health problems. He went to Walter Reed three times last year, including a trip to address the swelling of his lower legs, which his doctor diagnosed as chronic venous insufficiency. It is a common condition in older patients where one-way valves inside the veins don’t work properly.
Trump’s most recent report describes that he has “slight lower leg swelling” and notes “improvement from last year” when the chronic venous insufficiency was diagnosed. The report gives no reason for the improvement. Trump told The Wall Street Journal several months ago that he balked at wearing compression stockings—a typical treatment. Doctors said it is unusual for the condition to improve without treatment.
The White House noted that the severity of this condition can fluctuate over time.
Trump’s cholesterol numbers and medication regimen also stood out to several physicians who read the memorandum from the physical. The numbers are extremely good: His HDL (good cholesterol) number was 70 mg/dL. His LDL (bad cholesterol) number was 53 mg/dL.
The report said Trump takes rosuvastatin and ezetimibe for cholesterol control. “He’s got like the best cholesterol numbers you’ll see,” said Dr. Daniel Torrent, a Georgia vascular surgeon, who added that it is unusual for medication to achieve such favorable numbers. “We don’t usually manage people to the point where they’re that good.”The White House said Trump’s numbers are consistent with expected therapeutic outcomes and established cardiovascular prevention goals.
Also absent from the report was any discussion of the neck rash that Trump experienced earlier this year. When the rash appeared in early March, Barbabella said in a memo that the president was using a preventive cream for a skin condition. He didn’t specify the condition.
Prior physicals have included more details of the president’s skin conditions. His report last year noted minor sun damage and benign lesions. The report mentions bruising that appears on Trump’s hands. Barbabella noted the bruising as consistent with “minor soft tissue irritation,” attributing it to “frequent handshaking” and the “benign effect of aspirin therapy.”
Trump told the Journal several months ago that he takes more aspirin than his doctor recommends because he wants “nice, thin blood pouring through my heart.” Barbabella said at that time that the president uses aspirin for “cardiac prevention,” and that Trump takes 325 milligrams of aspirin a day. The recent report didn’t specify the president’s current aspirin dosage.
The White House said that medication lists in executive summaries, like the one they provided on Friday, are often abbreviated for readability and relevance. “The absence of discussion regarding a specific medication, dosage, or historical medical condition should not be interpreted as a lack of monitoring or treatment,” according to the White House statement.
The fact that the report contained little mention of ailments detailed in prior reports and lacked standard details in key areas makes it an incomplete picture of Trump’s health, several physicians said.
“That report is almost too good to be true for somebody of his age,” Shutze said. “This seems to be a filtered narrative.”
Write to Annie Linskey at annie.linskey@wsj.com
