Donald Trump has given a one-page summary of his latest medical exam to Dr Mehmet Oz, on whose tabloid medical chat show he will appear on Thursday.
According to reports from the taping of the show in New York on Wednesday, Mr Trump also expressed some personal remorse about his weight. Still unknown, however, is whether the campaign will be willing to release a full version of the examination, which he is thought to have undergone a week ago.
In the wake of Hillary Clinton’s admission that newly diagnosed pneumonia was behind her swooning episode at a 9/11 memorial service in New York on Sunday, Mr Trump said on Monday that he would be issuing “very, very specific numbers” following a recent physical exam.
Then on Tuesday Dr Oz, who first rose to television fame after being a regular guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show, said he expected to quiz Mr Trump about those results. "It’s his personal records. I want to ask him pointed questions about his health,“ he said.
That may not be exactly what happened - the full extent of the on-set conversation won't be known until the show is actually aired - but a press statement released by the show said Dr Oz had taken Mr Trump through a view of all his health systems, from cardiac function to "head and neck" and "respiratory health". If so, that would surely be the first time a US presidential candidae has had such conversation under the glare of television cameras.
Because only a summary of results was on offer, the discussion may have fallen short of a full interrogation of Mr Trump's health that Dr Oz seemed to promise earlierin the week, however. On Wednesday, Hope Hicks, the candidate’s spokesperson, said that delivering the physical results, in full form, to Dr Oz had been “considered, given the timing and platform,” but the plan was “never finalised.”
Left unanswered now is when Mr Trump's health status and medical history in full form might be released, if they ever will. Both candidates this year have fallen far short of the precedent set by John McCain. When he was the Republican nominee in 2008, he released over 1,000 pages of medical records, in part because he had suffered previously from skin cancer.
Mr Trump does not have the best record on transparency. Democrats continue to press him to release his tax records, in accordance with modern tradition for candidates running for the White House, but there is so far no suggestion whatsoever that he intends to comply.
It seems that the Dr Oz segment, which was originally seized on by the Trump team as an opportunity to reach out to women, who make up the bulk of the show's viewership, will also see him talking in general terms about topics like health care and his proposals this week to offer subsidies for infant child care. Ivanka Trump, his daughter, will also appear on the set.
Certainly, Mr Trump will face questions on his vision for future health policy. He has regularly vowed on the campaign trail to scrap the Obamacare reforms introduced by President Barack Obama but rarely gives any clear indication of what he would propose instead.
“I do think people want to understand, well, what happens to my health care if Mr Trump is elected, and more importantly, what kind of role model is he for health in our country?” Dr Oz said before the taping.
As for his own physical condition, Mr Trump, who is 70, could perhaps use some gentle scolding about his eating habits - he has posed in pictures with fast-food favourites like taco-bowls and deep fried chicken - but his latest cholesterol or blood-sugar levels are unlikely to be featured.
Ms Clinton is due to resume campaigning on Thursday after taking a three-day doctor’s-orders rest at her Chappaqua home in New York. As Democrats have watched nervously for any negative fall-out from her brief break from the campaign circuit - and also from her failure to divulge it when first diagnosed with pneumonia last Friday - they have also sought to put a tighter focus on Mr Trump’s own fitness.
Vice President Joe Biden has gently joked that if he would expect to out-run Mr Trump if they went jogging together. Mr Biden, once thought a possible nominee for the Democrats, is 73 years old.
Senator Harry Reid, the most senior Democrat in Congress, was more pointed. “He’s 70 years old, he’s not slim and trim,” he said. “He brags about eating fast food every day.”
