Aspirin, CT scans and sleep: Five questions raised by Trump’s new disclosures on his health

A detailed view of the hand of U.S. President Donald Trump as he speaks in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 2. (Alex Wong/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to tamp down on public debates about his health.

The oldest president to assume office has been dogged by questions about recent doctors’ visits, bruises on his hands and whether he’s fallen asleep during public events.

Trump dismissed these concerns in an apparently impromptu interview with the Wall Street Journal this week, in which he blamed the visible bruises on a high daily dose of aspirin — more than his doctors recommend — and said he has plenty of energy.

The president, who for years criticized former President Joe Biden’s age and cognitive health, followed up Friday with a Truth Social post saying he had aced his “third straight” cognitive test.

But the disclosures have done little to quell reemerging scrutiny of his health.

In fact, here are five questions his most recent health disclosures have raised.

First, who is Trump’s doctor, Sean Barbabella?

The physician overseeing Trump’s care and the recent pronouncement of exceptional health is Dr. Sean Barbabella, a Navy captain who was named to the role in March. Barbabella specialized in combat trauma and emergency care while in the military. He has defended Trump’s recent advance medical imaging and a semiannual physical this year as routine screening and care.

He is the latest in a line of personal physicians who have praised Trump’s physical health and cognition.

When Trump entered his first term, he kept on Dr. Ronny Jackson, who had served as President Barack Obama’s personal physician and grew to be one of Trump’s close personal advisers after a glowing news conference about the then-45th president’s “incredible genes.”

Jackson stepped down from his White House role in March 2018 when Trump nominated him to lead the Veterans Affairs Department. But he withdrew his nomination a month later amid allegations about his professional conduct while in the White House. He now serves in the House of Representatives as a Republican from Texas.

Jackson was followed by Dr. Sean Conley, a Navy emergency physician who in 2019 said that Trump was “in very good health” and that he expected the president “will remain so for the duration of his Presidency, and beyond.”

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Conley prescribed hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that had gained popularity among conservatives as an alternative — though unproven— therapy to aid against infection from the virus, as a preventive measure for Trump. In October 2020, when Trump contracted Covid-19, Conley oversaw his treatment.

The White House physicians were preceded by Dr. Harold Bornstein, Trump’s longtime personal physician in New York City. During his first presidential campaign, Bornstein proclaimed in an effusive letter that Trump “will be healthiest individual ever elected” president.

Bornstein later claimed that Trump dictated that letter to him over the phone. After the election, he said Trump officials raided his office for the president’s personal medical records, an account disputed by administration officials who said it was a routine handover of his private records.

Bornstein told The New York Times at the time that the encounter took place two days after a February 2017 interview in which he told NBC News that the president takes Propecia, a prostate drug often prescribed for hair loss.

What are the risks of taking high-dose aspirin daily?

The president said he takes a higher dose of aspirin than recommended by his doctors because “I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart.” He blamed that high dose for the visible bruises on his hands in recent months.

Aspirin used to be widely prescribed as a preventative for cardiovascular disease, but that has shifted. In 2019, medical experts advised against routine aspirin use unless a person has a heart condition or other health risks, citing the heightened risk of internal bleeding.

When they do recommend preventive aspirin, doctors typically advise an 81 milligram dose, said Dr. Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver. Trump told the Journal that he takes 325 milligram daily – about four times as much – and Barbabella said he is using it for cardiac prevention.

“Low-dose aspirin is 81 milligrams once a day, and full-dose is 325 milligrams once a day,” said Dr. Fahmi Farah, an invasive cardiologist and medical director and CEO of Bentley Heart in Fort Worth, Texas.

“Typically speaking, we do not recommend the full-dose aspirin. The full-dose aspirin has a lot more risk factors associated with it, and for the most part, those are GI risk factors. People who take full-dose aspirin are more prone to having GI bleeding, especially if they have ulcers and things like that,” Farah said. “The people we usually reserve the full-dose aspirin for are those who have serious conditions, like they have heart disease, or they have diagnosed atrial fibrillation, and they cannot be on a stronger blood thinner.”

The White House has said the president has chronic venous insufficiency, a condition that can cause blood to pool in the veins, inducing swelling and aches in the lower legs. It is a common condition, particularly as people age, and can be worsened by lack of physical activity. In some cases, aspirin may also be used to help treat the condition.

Freeman and the other doctors who spoke to CNN have not treated the president and do not have direct insight into his health.

But “many cardiologists would question” a long-term high-dose regimen, “given increased bleeding risk,” said Dr. Vivek Cherian, a Chicago-based internal medicine physician.

In a statement to CNN, Barbabella asserted that “President Trump’s medical evaluations and laboratory results continue to show excellent metabolic health, and have revealed his cardiovascular health puts him 14 years younger than his age.”

“Overall, the President remains in exceptional health and perfectly suited to execute his duties as Commander in Chief,” he said.

What is the ‘advanced imaging’ Trump received, and did it reveal anything new?

Trump’s interview with the Journal shed some more light on what the White House has called the “advanced imaging” he underwent in October. The president had told reporters that it was an MRI — a lengthier, more intensive scan focused on soft tissue — and was part of his routine physical. However, Trump told the Journal that he had a CT scan.

Barbabella told CNN that both options, an MRI and a CT scan, were on the table “to definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues.” A CT scan was done, he said, and “was perfectly normal and revealed absolutely no abnormalities.”

A cardiovascular CT scan is typically used to estimate long-term heart attack risk or rule out significant blockages, said Cherian, the Chicago-based internal medicine physician.

“Bottom line, CT scans don’t ‘prove’ your heart is safe, but they can refine risk, guide prevention, reassure when normal and escalate care when abnormal,” Cherian told CNN in an email.

In the new interview, Trump expressed regret about disclosing the scan in the first place. “In retrospect, it’s too bad I took it because it gave them a little ammunition,” he told the Journal.

Trump said he aced another cognitive test. What is that, and why does it matter?

Trump has been adamant for years that presidential and vice presidential candidates should undergo “cognitive assessments.” The president renewed this call Friday in a Truth Social post declaring that he had scored “100 per cent” on his third cognitive test.

“I strongly believe that anyone running for President, or Vice President, should be mandatorily forced to take a strong, meaningful, and proven Cognitive Examination,” he wrote.

It is not clear what test he was referring to in his post, and the White House did not immediately return a request for comment. But in 2018, Trump took the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a 10-minute screening test used to detect mild cognitive impairment and early dementia.

He took the test again in April 2025, reportedly scoring 30 out of 30.

According to Cherian, “a normal or high score means no obvious cognitive impairment was detected,” he said. “It’s important to note that the MoCA is not an IQ test and does not measure intelligence, judgment, decision-making, or overall cognitive fitness.”

That Trump took to social media even after speaking to the Journal reflects his longtime defensiveness about his cognitive health – a point on which he often attacked his predecessor on the 2024 campaign trail.

Trump “has nothing to hide, unlike his predecessor Joe Biden, who hid from the press and lied about his clear physical and mental decline,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

What about Trump’s sleep patterns and diet?

The president also told the Journal that he gets little sleep, finds most exercise boring and has not made changes to his diet, which has favored fast food such as McDonald’s burgers and Filet-O-Fish.

Farah, the invasive cardiologist in Fort Worth, found the details about sleep “alarming.”

“It could be something as simple as sleep deprivation, but it could be something more serious,” she said. “It can have a lot of other effects on your overall health, especially your cardiovascular health. It can increase the risk of heart attack, arrhythmia, stroke, all of those things.”

Trump attributes his health to “very good genetics.” But experts say this is just one piece of the puzzle, particularly as people age.

“Your genes are part of the equation, for sure, but it’s the environment you put them in,” including diet and exercise, said Freeman. “If we were honest and open about this in a more explicit way, we might actually be able to solve the problem of the American health crisis.”

That message is the crux of the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda spearheaded by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Freeman pointed out.

Kennedy “is trying his best to move the needle on nutrition, but it seems like the president doesn’t seem to resonate with any of those things,” Freeman said. “It’s a very interesting time where politics and health are crossing in ways that you never anticipate.”

CNN’s Alayna Treene contributed to this report.

By Sarah Owermohle, Jacqueline Howard, CNN