Health
Before Biden, these 5 past presidents faced health issues amid re-election
President Biden announced on Sunday that he has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race.
Although the White House press office told Fox News Digital on Monday that “health was not a factor” in the president’s decision to withdraw, multiple doctors expressed concern about signs of cognitive decline after Biden’s widely criticized performance in the June 27 presidential debate.
Two medical experts told Fox News Digital their belief that Biden’s decision to step down is best for the president’s health.
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Biden, however, isn’t the only president whose re-election was potentially thwarted by health issues or concerns.
Here are five others.
Presidents Woodrow Wilson, left, Franklin D. Roosevelt, center, and Theodore Roosevelt all experienced health issues while in office. (Getty Images)
1. Chester A. Arthur (21st president, 1881-1885)
After he became America’s 21st president in 1881, Chester Arthur experienced health complications due to malaria, which remained endemic in Washington, D.C., throughout the 19th century, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In 1882, Arthur continued to suffer from progressive fatigue, extreme weight loss and peripheral edema, the NIH reported.
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After a closer health inspection, Arthur was diagnosed with Bright’s disease, today known as chronic kidney disease.
Chester A. Arthur, 1829-86, 21st president of the United States, is shown in a portrait in the 1880s. (Glasshouse Vintage/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The president’s health worsened during his last two years in office, with reported symptoms of fluid retention, rigors (shaking or shivering), nausea and colicky abdominal pain.
As the 1884 election inched closer, Arthur sought a second term — but lost the Republican nomination to James G. Blaine, the speaker of the House.
Blaine went on to lose the election to Democrat Grover Cleveland.
Arthur died on Nov. 18, 1886, at age 57, according to the Smithsonian.
2. Theodore Roosevelt (26th president, 1901-1909)
Theodore Roosevelt took over as commander in chief at nearly 43 years old in 1901 following the assassination of President William McKinley, according to the White House Historical Association.
Roosevelt was then re-elected in 1904.
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After William Howard Taft’s term, which began in 1909, Roosevelt decided to re-join the race in 1912, creating his own “Bull Moose” party.
While campaigning on Oct. 14, 1912, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Roosevelt was shot during an assassination attempt outside the Gilpatrick Hotel.
President Theodore Roosevelt is pictured at his office in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 10, 1903. (History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The bullet was slowed by Roosevelt’s dense overcoat, his steel-reinforced eyeglasses case and his 50-page speech folded in his inner right jacket pocket, as History.com reported.
The bullet punctured the president’s right chest, but did not damage his lungs. It was left lodged inside his ribs — which was deemed safer than operating.
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Roosevelt continued his campaign while in recovery — but was beaten by Democrat Woodrow Wilson in the 1912 election.
3. Woodrow Wilson (28th president, 1913-1921)
Woodrow Wilson carried out two full terms and intended to run for a third.
But the then-president was “severely hindered” by a neurological condition that caused him to suffer from strokes before and during his presidency, according to the NIH.
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Before he took office, three strokes affected his right hand and left arm, and caused blindness in his left eye.
A damaging stroke during his presidency in October 1919 left Wilson paralyzed on the left side and with only partial vision in his right eye.
He was confined to his bed for several weeks, the NIH reported.
Woodrow Wilson’s portrait was taken during his campaign for New Jersey governor in 1910. (Circa Images/GHI/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Wilson did not sufficiently recover from this episode.
In 1920, the Republicans requested confirmation that he was still able to carry out his duties as required by the Constitution.
The president’s doctor, Dr. Cary Grayson, would not publicly comment on Wilson’s health status as Wilson pursued re-election for a third term.
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By the time of the Democratic convention that summer, however, Grayson shared Wilson’s poor medical state with party leaders and rejected the idea of a third term.
Wilson was ultimately not given the presidential nomination, and Republican Warren G. Harding was elected in 1920.
4. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (32nd president, 1933-1945)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was the only U.S. president to serve more than two terms in office, as he was elected four times throughout the Depression and World War II.
Roosevelt had suffered from health issues since his paralysis as a result of polio at 39 years old, according to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum.
Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945), 32nd U.S. president, is pictured at his desk in Washington, D.C., in 1933. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
During his third term in office, Roosevelt was diagnosed with heart disease, which was kept hidden from the public ahead of his re-election for a fourth term, the NIH reported.
Throughout 1944, Roosevelt’s team of doctors monitored his waning health, continuously recording high blood pressure measurements.
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These heart complications were attributed to the “unending stress and strain of the war,” according to the FDR Library and Museum.
Roosevelt was chosen as the Democratic nominee in 1944 and continued with his campaign, even while facing skepticism about his physical fitness for office.
President Franklin Roosevelt in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., in 1934. (History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Although he won his fourth presidential election, Roosevelt was “debilitated” by his condition, according to the NIH.
On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt complained of a headache to his physician, Dr. Howard Bruenn.
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Roosevelt’s blood pressure hit 300/190 and he lost consciousness.
Bruenn diagnosed the event as a stroke and declared the president dead at age 63.
5. Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th president, 1953-1961)
Dwight Eisenhower began his first term in 1953 and suffered from two major illnesses, according to the NIH.
He experienced a heart attack in September 1955, keeping him out of the White House for recovery until December.
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Although Eisenhower got clearance from his doctors, the NIH reported that his cardiologists recommended against his running for a second term.
The president decided to run for re-election anyway, which was followed by his second major health event in June 1956 — resulting in a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease.
President Dwight Eisenhower is pictured with Willy Brandt, mayor of West Berlin, in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 11, 1959. (Circa Images/GHI/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Eisenhower underwent an exploratory laparotomy and ileal bypass surgery for a bowel obstruction, which was successful.
After a full recovery, Eisenhower was re-elected for a second term, despite questions from the opposition about his fitness for office.
The following year, in November 1957, Eisenhower suffered a stroke but ultimately fulfilled his presidency.
After leaving office, Eisenhower suffered multiple heart attacks in the 1960s.
He died of congestive heart failure on March 28, 1969, at 78 years old.
Over the two and a half years following the 2022 rollout of the 988 national suicide prevention hotline, the rate of suicides among young people in the United States dropped 11 percent below projections, decreasing most sharply in states with a higher volume of answered 988 calls, a new study has found.
The findings, published today as a research letter in JAMA, compared suicide deaths from July 2022 to December 2024 with sophisticated mathematical projections that were based on historical trends. This yielded good news, with 4,372 fewer suicides of adolescents and young adults, ages 15 to 34, than had been projected.
To ensure that the decline was related to the use of the hotline, researchers at Harvard Medical School teased out the trends in states with high and low usage of the hotline. The findings were striking: The 10 states with the largest increases in 988 calls experienced an 18.2 percent reduction in observed suicides compared with expected suicides; in the 10 states with the lowest uptake, the reduction was smaller, 10.6 percent.
The results suggest that the government’s investment in the 988 rollout has translated into “a measurable reduction of deaths,” said Dr. Vishal Patel, a resident physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and one of the authors of the study.
“What our study has added,” he said, “is evidence for the deeper benefit of the program, and that is, that at the population level, among young people at least, suicide mortality is lower than it would have been without the program.”
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He added, “The implication of that is that sustained funding for this program matters.”
The United States rolled out the three-digit hotline with bipartisan support in July 2022, replacing a 10-digit hotline number, and augmented it with a $1.5 billion investment in crisis center capacity. Since its inception, the service has fielded more than 25 million contacts, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency has asked Congress for $534.6 million to fund the program for 2027.
Last summer, the Trump administration terminated one element of the hotline, the Press 3 option for L.G.B.T.Q.+ callers. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said that the Press 3 option was being discontinued because it had exhausted its funding from Congress and that the hotline would “focus on serving all help seekers.”
But advocacy groups and policymakers protested the decision, and in testimony before the Senate on Tuesday, the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said his agency was planning to restore the Press 3 option.
Dr. Patel said his group had become curious about measuring the program’s effectiveness after Press 3 was eliminated. While call volume and satisfaction surveys suggested that 988 was succeeding, he said, the harder question was, “Did the creation of this 988 program, the transition from the old hotline to this hotline, actually move the needle on suicide mortality?”
Experts said it was difficult to tease out the beneficial effect of 988 from other things that changed in 2022, the year that the new hotline was created. Around that time, suicide prevention programs were being introduced in schools, in faith communities and on social media, but more important, the pandemic was ending.
“We were finally out of this crazy time, and there was a sense of optimism and hope,” said Jonathan B. Singer, a professor of social work at Loyola University Chicago and a co-author of “Suicide in Schools.” He called the downward trend in youth suicides “encouraging, but it is tempered by the fact that we don’t have a good explanation as to why.”
The authors acknowledged that their findings could not account for the influence of social and economic changes, changes in mental health services or public awareness about services.
But they did make comparisons to exclude other possible explanations. The authors looked for similar effects among American adults over 65, who are less likely to use the hotline. In that group, there was a reduction in suicides that exceeded expectations, but it was smaller, at just 4.5 percent.
To ensure the decline in suicides did not reflect a general improvement in young-adult mortality, the researchers tracked cancer deaths, and found there was no change. They also looked at the rates of suicide among young people in England, where no change had been made to the national crisis line in that time period; they found no reduction in youth suicides there.
Hannah Wesolowski, chief advocacy officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said she was persuaded that the hotline had contributed to the improvement in suicide rates, in part because it did not appear among English youths or in older Americans.
“To me, that really helps hone in that this might really be the differentiator,” she said. “We are seeing potentially a pretty significant decline in suicides among young people. For public policy, this is strong evidence to double down on that we are doing.”
Emily Hilliard, a senior press secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, said H.H.S. and SAMHSA are “committed to ensuring that all Americans have access” the 988 line, which she said “clearly provides lifesaving support, helping millions of people every year.”
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.
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A highly contagious digestive virus is surging across the U.S., experts warn.
Rotavirus, a double-stranded RNA virus, causes acute gastroenteritis — inflammation of the stomach and intestines — which can lead to severe diarrhea, vomiting, fever and stomach pain.
The virus primarily affects infants and young children, but there have also been outbreaks in elderly populations, such as nursing homes.
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Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that in the week ending April 4, out of 2,329 rotavirus tests, 7.3% were positive for the infection. Last year’s highest infection rate was 6.77% as of the week ending April 19.
Rotavirus, a double-stranded RNA virus, causes acute gastroenteritis — inflammation of the stomach and intestines — which can lead to severe diarrhea, vomiting, fever and stomach pain. (iStock)
“We’re seeing a lot of rotavirus in the wastewater right now,” Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, confirmed to Fox News Digital. “Testing for rotavirus is way down, but the percentage of positive tests is up.”
While the virus typically peaks in the spring, it is not currently slowing down, he noted.
Why cases may be rising
Patricia Pinto-Garcia, M.D., a medical editor at GoodRx who is based in California, said there are several possible reasons for the rotavirus spike.
“Vaccine rates are down overall among young children, as they decreased during COVID,” she told Fox News Digital. “This means there’s a growing number of infants and young children who are vulnerable to infection.”
The rotavirus vaccine series must be completed by the time a child is 8 months old, she noted.
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As a result of the declining vaccinations, herd immunity isn’t protecting vulnerable children, according to Pinto-Garcia. “Children who haven’t finished the vaccine series yet, are too young to get vaccinated, or can’t get the vaccine due to medical illness are more likely to get exposed to the illness because other children aren’t vaccinated,” she said.
Siegel noted that before the vaccine became available, rotavirus resulted in 55,000 to 70,000 in the U.S. per year.
“Vaccine rates are down overall among young children, as they decreased during COVID,” a doctor told Fox News Digital. “This means there’s a growing number of infants and young children who are vulnerable to infection.” (iStock)
“I am concerned that the vaccination rate has been declining over the past seven years and is continuing to decline in the current climate of vaccine skepticism,” he said.
Surveillance methods are also much better than they used to be, Pinto-Garcia noted, which means public health experts are able to pick up and track cases better than ever before.
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“But we see that rotavirus-related healthcare visits are also up, so improved detection is not the only reason we are seeing this spike,” she said.
The COVID pandemic also disrupted the pattern of infections, according to Pinto-Garcia, so it’s “tricky” to compare the current levels against older cycles.
“It’s possible that what we are seeing is still some post-pandemic rebound, but it’s unlikely that this year’s pattern is fully explained by just this factor,” she added.
Transmission and risk
Dr. Zachary Hoy, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Pediatrix Medical Group based in Nashville, Tennessee, often sees young patients with rotavirus.
“Rotavirus is spread via the fecal-oral route, meaning that a person comes into contact with virus droplets from contact with other children or adults, or from contact with objects such as toys that have been contaminated with the virus from someone who is sick,” he told Fox News Digital. “This can lead to outbreaks, especially at schools where many young children share the same toys.”
“It’s possible that what we are seeing is still some post-pandemic rebound, but it’s unlikely that this year’s pattern is fully explained by just this factor.”
Rotavirus is associated with many dehydration cases in the hospital due to the degree of diarrhea, according to Hoy.
In some severe cases, the virus can lead to seizures due to electrolyte imbalances from dehydration and loss of electrolytes in the stool.
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“Younger children do not have the reserves that older children and adults have, so they can become more dehydrated quicker and develop more severe electrolyte imbalances, leading to more severe infections,” Hoy said.
“Patients with problems with their immune systems or on medications that can decrease their immune systems can have more severe and prolonged infections, too.”
Treatment and care
Because rotavirus is a viral infection, antibiotics are not effective against it. There is no specific antiviral treatment for the condition, with doctors typically recommending supportive care.
“The mainstay of treatment is hospitalization for rehydration via intravenous (IV) fluids,” Hoy told Fox News Digital. “Sometimes it can take up to two to three days of IV fluids to help get patients rehydrated.”
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Blood draws are often necessary to evaluate patients’ electrolyte levels, such as sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium, according to the doctor.
“If these electrolyte levels are significantly low, sometimes patients need special IV solutions or individual electrolyte medications,” he added.
“The mainstay of treatment is hospitalization for rehydration via intravenous (IV) fluids,” a doctor told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
Dr. Daniel Park, medical director of the Pediatric Emergency Department at UNC Health in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, noted that most children recover with supportive care, but parents should seek medical attention if a child shows signs of dehydration. Those include decreased urination, lethargy or inability to keep fluids down.
“While rare, rotavirus can be life-threatening in vulnerable populations, especially very young infants or children with underlying medical conditions,” Park told Fox News Digital.
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Prevention strategies
Given the lack of antiviral medications for rotavirus, doctors emphasize the importance of prevention, primarily the vaccine.
There are two rotavirus vaccines – Rotateq (a three-dose series) and Rotarix (a two-dose series). They are given starting at age 2 months as oral drops, not injections, according to Hoy.
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“It’s important to get the rotavirus vaccines on schedule, because these younger infants are at greatest risk if they get rotavirus,” he advised.
Other recommended prevention methods include handwashing with soap and water.
Every day we’re faced with a zillion small choices: Go to sleep early, or watch one more episode of that Netflix drama. Call an old friend to catch up, or cruise social media. Of course, no single action will guarantee a long, healthy life or doom you to an early grave. But those little daily decisions do add up, and over the long term they can make a difference when it comes to both your longevity and your health span, the amount of life spent in relatively good health.
Scroll through this theoretical “day in the life” and select the option that best fits your typical day. Not every situation will apply perfectly, but think about which choice you’d be most likely to make. This isn’t a formal scientific assessment. The goal here isn’t to assign you a “good” or “bad” score, but to help you understand the central factors that shape the way we age and how long we live.
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