By Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON, Jan 1 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he is taking a larger daily dose of aspirin than his doctors recommend.
“They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,” Trump told the paper in an interview published on Thursday. “I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?”
Trump, 79, is the second-oldest person to ever hold the presidency, following his Democratic predecessor President Joe Biden, who dropped his 2024 reelection bid amid questions about his fitness for the job and was aged 82 when he left office a year ago.
Trump’s health has been in the spotlight in recent months due to bruises that have been spotted on his hands and an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) exam that he was reported to have undergone in October, as well as instances where the Republican president closed his eyes during public events.
Daily use of aspirin can lower the chances of heart attack or stroke for people over the age of 60, according to the Mayo Clinic, which says a low dose of aspirin is most commonly 81 milligrams.
The president’s doctor, Sean Barbabella, told the Journal that Trump takes 325 milligrams of aspirin daily for cardiac prevention.
The bruising is the result of him shaking so many hands, according to the White House, which said last month the MRI was preventative.
When asked about the MRI, Trump and Barbabella told the Journal that the president actually got a CT scan.
Barbabella said Trump’s doctors had initially said they would perform either an MRI or a CT scan but decided to do the latter “to definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues.”
It revealed no abnormalities, according to Barbabella.
(Reporting by Jasper WardEditing by Scott Malone and Frances Kerry)
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