As Joe Biden’s verbal gaffes, shaking voice and other disturbing signs have focused so much on the mental acuity of the US president, health experts are calling him and his rivals. Donald Trump to pass additional cognitive tests, even when the danger against leap to conclusions.
The test, experts say, may be able to refute speculation that the 81-year-old president’s mental state is worrying — or confirm it — and may enlighten voters about Trump’s mental abilities, which he has his share of. of verbal lapses.
But a reliable diagnosis, they caution, cannot be made from a distance.
Since Biden’s poor performance in the debate with Trump two weeks ago, the Democratic campaign has faced fierce opposition. A growing number of officials in his own party are questioning his ability to lead the country for another four years.
And it didn’t help when at a summit in Washington earlier this week Biden mistakenly identified Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as his opponent. Vladimir Putinbefore quickly correcting himself.
Dennis Selkoe, a neurologist at Harvard Medical School, said the fundamental issue is whether Biden is suffering from “an age-related process” or “something that represents a neurological disease.”
“Making a mistake with a name is not automatically a sign of dementia or Alzheimer’s,” he told AFP.
But Selkoe, who sees many patients with neurodegenerative problems, said Biden seemed to have “the appearance of an early Parkinson’s patient” — including a slow, stiff gait and a low, sometimes almost inaudible voice, which could be a condition known as hypophonia.
– Detailed test –
In February, Biden underwent a complete physical exam. A summary of the published results showed that a “very detailed neurological examination” had ruled out Parkinson’s.
But no details were given about the exact nature of the test or its results.
Has any neurological disease developed in the past five months? If the exams in February are complete, Selkoe said, there should be early signs of a new condition.
In an editorial in March, the scientific journal Lancet called for standardized procedures to check the health of sitting and presidential candidates in order to insulate the American electorate from an “epidemic of speculation, misinformation and slander.”
Absent a reliable test, “the U.S. public remains happy to release voluntary reports from politicians’ personal physicians,” the journal said.
Jay Olshansky, an aging expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago, sounded a similar note, saying, “We think the time has come for full transparency.”
He called on the two main presidential candidates to pass cognitive tests, something that former president Trump, who often challenged Biden, did.
Some of these exams, including those known as the MMSE and the MoCA, are available for initial screening or as part of a more comprehensive battery of tests.
Biden says he effectively passes cognitive tests every day, just by doing the job of president.
But “I don’t think it’s the same,” Selkoe said. Being able to do a familiar task that you’ve done for years, he said, while being able to repeat a list of words you heard five minutes before, as some tests require, is another.
At a press conference Thursday, the president said he would undergo a new neurological exam if doctors recommended it, but “no one has recommended it to me right now.”
– Stereotypes about aging –
Aging changes the brain, says Allison Sekuler, president of Baycrest Academy, a hospital specializing in the care of the elderly.
“Garbage generally builds up in the brain,” he told AFP, adding that part of the brain’s atrophy, or shrinking, includes parts that are important for memory.
The early phase known as “mild cognitive impairment” can sometimes progress to Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia, he said.
During the recent debate, Biden and Trump — who is 78 years old — “had some problems staying on track with the questions,” Sekuler said, suggesting that both men undergo a test.
However, he added, “we only talk about one of them now because it aligns with our stereotypes about aging.”
Olshansky also denounced what he called “raging” ageism, citing a recent magazine cover that used a walker as a symbol of the Biden-Trump race.
He noted that there is a lower age limit for US presidential candidates – they must be at least 35 years old – there is no upper limit.
What is called “crystal intelligence,” or the ability to use past experiences to improve reasoning skills, “gets stronger and stronger” with age.
Olshansky authored a 2020 study that gave Biden a 95 percent chance of surviving the first round, based on average life expectancy for people his age, plus personal risk factors.
But the same calculation four years later, for someone who is now four years old, gives Biden a lower chance of survival: only 75 percent.
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