Titular
The White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that President Donald Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition in people over 70 years of age, which caused swelling in his ankles, but that he remains in “excellent state of health” despite speculation on social networks.
Key facts
Leavitt said Trump was evaluated by the White House Medical Unit after noticing swelling in the ankles, after several days of speculation for photos of his ankles in the FIFA Club World Cup final and his hands in a press event on Tuesday.
The blood tests showed no signs of “deep vein thrombosis or blood pressure,” and the results were “within normal limits,” Leavitt said.
Additional tests showed no signs of heart failure or other systemic diseases.
Leavitt said Trump feels “no discomfort” for swelling and continues to work “24 hours a day.”
Leavitt also referred to Trump’s photos with what they seemed to be bruises in the back of the hand, insisting that it was an “soft tissue irritation for shaking hands frequently”, as well as a side effect of the use of aspirin by the president to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
The White House had previously ruled out the speculation about the bruises in their hands in February, telling NBC News again that were caused by “working and shaking hands all day, every day.”
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What we don’t know
Leavitt did not provide more details about how Trump doctors could treat the condition, which they described as “benign.” When journalists asked her about the treatment during the press conference, she sent the issue to the White House doctor.
Key context
In January, Trump, with 78 years, became the oldest person to assume the presidency, surpassing former president Joe Biden for several months. However, during the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly criticized the ex -president’s health, especially his apparent cognitive impairment, which became one of the main reasons why Biden decided to retire from the contest in July. Trump and Republicans in Congress have continued to question Biden’s health, and in recent weeks members of the Chamber’s Supervision Committee have issued citations to the former president’s doctors to answer questions.
What is chronic venous insufficiency?
Chronic venous insufficiency is a common condition typically caused by “incompetent venous valves”, according to National Health Institutes (NIH). Its symptoms may include pain, swelling in the legs, itching, skin discharge, heaviness in the limbs and edema. If not, this condition can cause a “decrease in the quality of life and loss of labor productivity”, in addition to complications such as venous ulcers, according to NIH. Every year approximately 150,000 new cases of chronic venous insufficiency are diagnosed.
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This article was originally published by Forbes US
