Doctor says Biden is ‘fit,’ able to carry out his duties, but gives no cognitive test
President Biden’s doctor on Wednesday released a summary of his health following an annual checkup in which he declared no major new concerns and said the president “continues to be fit for duty.”
The six-page summary was released at a time when Biden’s age and cognitive abilities have been under scrutiny as the nation’s oldest president runs for reelection. The 81-year-old incumbent, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, is likely to face Donald Trump, who is 77.
The exam found Biden, at 6-feet, 178 pounds, in good shape physically. “President Biden is a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief,” the report concluded.
Biden’s longtime physician, Kevin C. O’Connor, oversaw the physical and consulted a range of other specialists. Since his previous physical, in February 2023, “this year’s physical identified no new concerns,” O’Connor said. He highlighted several issues that Biden’s medical team has addressed over the past year, including Biden’s stiff gait, sleep apnea and a root canal.
“The overall read is stability,” said Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist and professor of medicine and surgery at the George Washington School of Medicine & Health Sciences. “When I see a patient for a physical exam after six or 12 months, that’s what I’m looking for: What’s changed?”
It was notable, however, that there was no cognitive portion of the report, Reiner said.
Current guidelines do not necessarily suggest a routine cognitive exam for an 81-year-old, he said, unless it is recommended by the patient, caregiver or physician due to a cognitive issue.
“The other reason to test him would be a political reason,” Reiner said. “There very well may be a political reason since it’s been so high on everyone’s radar screen. But apparently they didn’t feel it was warranted. But that’s the glaring absence from the report.”
Biden’s cognition and memory took center stage earlier this month when special counsel Robert K. Hur said a jury would likely see him as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Democrats angrily criticized the report, arguing that Hur is not a physician and is not qualified to make such a judgment.
O’Connor did remark on the president’s stiff gait when he walks, which he has attributed in the past to a foot fracture Biden suffered in 2020. The doctor wrote that he assembled a team to examine and assess the president, and they determined that much of his stiffness is the result of wear-and-tear on his spine.
“An extremely detailed neurological exam was again reassuring in that there were no findings which would be consistent with any cerebellar or other central neurological disorder,” he wrote. That could indicate that his stiff gait is not the result of other issues such as stroke, multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s, O’Connor said.
Biden also has “no tremor, either at rest or with activity,” and he “demonstrates excellent fine motor dexterity,” according to the report.
Under “Social History,” O’Connor wrote, “The President has been happily married for 46 years. He does not use any tobacco products, does not drink alcohol, and he continues to work out at least five days per week.”
The physical also took note of how Biden has started using a CPAP machine to help with sleep apnea, the White House said, making him one of the millions of Americans who use the device to treat apnea, a sleep disorder in which a person’s breathing stops and starts frequently while sleeping.
“Given the importance of efficient sleep for anyone, but certainly for a senior executive, we revisited the issue this past spring, and conducted a formal sleep study,” O’Connor wrote.