US President Joe Biden has received an annual physical examination at a military hospital in suburban Maryland, an assessment that will be closely watched as the 81-year-old seeks re-election in November.
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Dressed in a suit, Biden left the White House early on Wednesday for the exam and returned a few hours later.
He told reporters once he was back at the White House that the results were no different from his exam the previous year.
Doctors declared Biden healthy and "fit for duty" in last year's physical examination, which included removing a lesion from his chest and declaring him free of symptoms of long COVID after his bout with the virus in 2022.
The White House said it would publicly release a written summary of the Democratic president's latest physical later on Wednesday.
This year's physical comes as Biden, a Democrat, and former Republican President Donald Trump, 77, prepare to face off in a likely rematch in the November 5 presidential election.
The two candidates have accused each other of mental decline.
Trump's last rival for the Republican nomination, 52-year-old Nikki Haley, has said both men are too old to occupy the White House and should be subjected to cognitive tests.
Biden is already the oldest president in US history and would be 86 by the end of a second term, should he win one.
Biden likes to golf and ride his bike in his downtime.
But his verbal and physical stumbles have raised concerns about his age and ability to carry out the demands of being commander-in-chief.
Biden had a colonoscopy in 2021, in which a 3mm "benign-appearing polyp" was identified and removed.
In 1988, Biden had surgery to repair two brain aneurysms, which are weak bulges in arteries, and one of them leaking.
Biden has never had a recurrence, his doctor said, citing a test in 2014 that examined his arteries.
with AP
Australian Associated Press
