President Donald Trump's startling comment about the eye-popping amount of aspirin he's popping every day floored an emergency doctor on Thursday, who told CNN viewers that's the same amount they administer to people having a heart attack.
Dr. Jeremy Faust, editor in chief of Medpage Today and assistant professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School, joined CNN's "The Arena" on New Year's Day to discuss new Wall Street Journal reporting on the president's health.
The Journal published a lengthy piece describing Trump as showing some signs of aging, while insisting he remains in excellent health and high energy. Trump told the outlet he takes a higher daily dose of aspirin — 325 mg — 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 ... I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?" Trump said.
Jim Scuitto, filling in on "The Arena," told viewers that a low dose of aspirin that can help prevent a heart attack or stroke is between 75-100 mg. An aspirin therapy daily dose, meanwhile, can be from 75 mg up to 325 mg.
Faust acknowledged that while nothing appeared alarming about Trump's health in the report, the amount Trump is taking stands out like a sore thumb.
"The interesting piece of information, especially as an emergency clinician, was that this gentleman was taking 325 mg of aspirin per day in an effort to prevent a heart attack. That is a dose that we treat actually for patients who are having a heart attack, and some very, very high-risk patients might be maintained on that after a stroke or a heart attack, but it's pretty unusual."
Faust said the lower dose of 81 mg confers all of the benefits for patients at risk of a heart attack or stroke while minimizing serious bleeding risk.
Furthermore, the amount of aspirin the president is taking credibly explains the mysterious bruising that has appeared on Trump's hands.