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Trump’s annual physical results released as doctor says president had no side effects from taking hydroxychloroquine

‘The president completed the regimen safely and without side effects,’ Dr Sean Conley says about the president taking the anit-malarial drug

Danielle Zoellner
Wednesday 03 June 2020 17:29 EDT
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What do you have to lose? Take it': Trump pushes unproven drug

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The White House has released information about President Donald Trump‘s annual physical, including him experiencing no side effects while taking anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure against Covid-19.

Mr Trump weighs 244lbs and stands at 6ft 3in tall, according a summary of the annual physical.

The president made an unannounced visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in November for a little over two hours to perform tests necessary for the physical. Subsequent tests then happened later at the White House.

“There were no findings of significance or changes to report,” Dr Sean Conely, the president’s physician, wrote in a memo about the president’s physical. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany described Mr Trump as “healthy” after the summary report was released.

What the report also showed was that the president was on hydroxycholorquine, which he revealed last month he started taking as a preventative measure against Covid-19.

“Following the diagnosis of Covid-19 in two West Wing staffers this past May, as a preventative measure, the president took a two-week course of hydroxychloroquine with zinc and Vitamin D,” Dr Conley wrote. “This was done in consultation with the appropriate care team members and close monitoring of the electrocardiogram for changes in the QT interval.”

Dr Conley added: “The president completed the regimen safely and without side effects.”

Hydroxychloroquine was boosted up by the president and other officials as a “game-changer” drug that could potentially prevent or diminish the symptoms of the coronavirus. But studies released have since shown different results.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota and Canada studied 821 people who were exposed to patients infected with the coronavirus, making it the first controlled clinical study launched in the US. The study was randomised, with some receiving hydroxychloroquine and others receiving a placebo.

The results, to be published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that hydroxychloroquine was no more effective than the placebo.

After Mr Trump’s first physical, it was indicated the president had a common form of heart disease, CNN reported. The president’s doctor recommended a higher dose of medication that would help lower his cholesterol and lifestyle changes.

The latest annual physical showed Mr Trump’s cholesterol was now at 167 with an LDL, low-density lippotins, below 100, indicating a healthy level.

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