NEW YORK (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is in “overall very good health,” with no limitations on his work as a U.S. senator, his physician said in a letter released on Thursday.
The letter from Brian Monahan, the attending physician for Congress, detailed the health of the Vermont senator, who is vying with Hillary Clinton for his party’s nomination to the November 2016 presidential election.
“You are in overall very good health and active in your professional work, and recreational lifestyle without limitation,” said the Jan. 20 letter posted on Sanders’ campaign website.
Presidential candidates often release such statements to assure voters that they are fit for the presidency.
The race between Clinton and Sanders, 74, has tightened in recent weeks, and polls show the two in a statistical dead heat for the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1.
The letter notes that Sanders has, over the years, been treated for conditions ranging from gout to hypothyroidism to diverticulitis. He has also had surgery to repair hernias and excise a vocal cord cyst, the letter said.
The senator also takes levothyroxine daily and indomethacin occasionally, it added.
Levothyroxine is used to treat hypothyroidism, and indomethacin is used treat stiffness and pain from osteoarthritis, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Sanders’ main Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, released a statement from her own doctor last year giving her a clean bill of health.
(Reporting by Luciana Lopez; Editing by Richard Chang)
Photo: U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa, January 28, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein
