WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump, who turns 80 in June, will undergo his routine annual physical on May 26 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, following a year of public attention on apparently minor health issues.
Mr Trump frequently casts himself as more energetic and fitter than Mr Joe Biden, his Democratic predecessor who left office in 2025 at age 82 after facing questions about his fitness for the job.
Still, recent photographs showing a blotchy neck rash have added to questions about Mr Trump’s health, following images in July 2025 of swollen ankles and a bruised hand concealed with makeup.
A recent photograph showing a blotchy neck rash has added to questions about US President Donald Trump’s health.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Mr Trump, whose birthday is June 14, became the oldest person to assume the presidency when he began his second term in January 2025.
Mr Trump maintains an active golf schedule, but joked about his relative lack of exercise at a recent Oval Office event where his health secretary, Mr Robert F. Kennedy Jr, said the president walks 14.5km every time he goes golfing.
“When I am not using the cart,” Mr Trump said.
White House physician Sean Barbabella has said Mr Trump is using a common cream as “a preventative skin treatment” to address the neck rash, but he has not given details of the condition being treated.
After the photographs of the president’s legs and hands were published last July, Dr Barbabella said in a letter that the ailments were benign, and that there was no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease.
Mr Trump’s leg swelling was from a “common” vein condition, and his hand was bruised from shaking so many hands, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
Mr Trump said in October that he received a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam that month. The White House initially declined to share further details on the reason for the scan. Ms Leavitt said only that it indicated “exceptional physical health” for Mr Trump.
The president later told reporters he got the MRI as part of a second physical exam.
“Getting an MRI is very standard. What, you think I shouldn’t have it? Other people get it. I had an MRI. The doctor said it was the best result he has ever seen as a doctor,” Mr Trump said.
Medical experts noted that MRIs are not typically part of a routine physical and are usually prescribed to get detailed images of the body.
In a memo after the second exam, Dr Barbabella said the president’s “cardiac age – a validated measure of cardiovascular vitality via ECG – was found to be approximately 14 years younger than his chronological age.
Mr Trump has also faced questions after appearing to fall asleep during several meetings, including a session with his Cabinet.
“Some people said, ‘He closed his eyes’. Look, it got pretty boring,” Mr Trump told laughing officials in February. “I didn’t sleep. I just closed them because I wanted to get the hell outta here.”
Mr Biden was diagnosed in 2025 with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer that spread to his bones, and underwent radiation therapy. REUTERS