Comments on: Health note: Does Obama have Marfan Syndrome?

By: cyncyn

cyncyn — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 20:20:12 +0000

Supposedly Obama is cloned from Akhenaten, which supposedly had Marfan Syndrome. What are the odds.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 19:01:57 +0000

Oh, I doubt whether he has Marfan’s syndrome; it’s much more likely, considering his ignominious behavior, that he suffers from assholus Demokratos. That is a fatal disorder characterized by taking other people’s money and redistributing it to the indolent.

By: Anony

Anony — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 08:56:51 +0000

And here he plays basketball. If he does have it, I’d have my heart or aorta monitored including a genetic screening.

By: Anony

Anony — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 08:55:24 +0000

Obama certainly looks the part. Hmmm…

By: hereandnow

hereandnow — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:41:26 +0000

Marfan’s is genetic & autosominally dominant. Expressed as such & NOT as a random mutation, it can present variously & does not have to be fatal (mutant vs familial is often most severe). My family has textbook Marfan’s, including a member who was not even tall (5’5″) dead of it. It can present incompletely. It can present with all the heralds of the disorder & not be fatal if the most severe symptom (congenital aneurysm) is not present/does not develop. Conversely, one w/no outward physical heralds can drop dead w/that one symption: aortic aneurysm. On a scale of 1-10 for outward appearance for Marfans, Obama might not be a sure 9 or 10, but he’s way above a 5. It is not rude to speculate about the fitness to lead concerning the “leader of the free world.” This includes mental, moral and physical fitness. His medical conditions, if any, should have been open to voters, like it or not. It is their right to weigh all things in order to choose an executive. A student of presidential history would know that, this has not been done in the past & that several presidents served w/severe health conditions ranging from cancer to stroke, heart failure or Addison’s Disease. WHile we all muddled through somehow without knowing, it still represents subterfuge in a job that should be the most transparent in the nation. The voters themselves, and not political hacks and spinners/managers, must decide by weighing all factors– who should head the executive branch and armed forces, esp. in a nuclear world. Given the truth, the electorate could very well decide that this or that health condition is of no consequence in the light of other factors. On the other hand, this is for the voters to decide after having access to all available inforation, and no one else . Beginning a presidency by not trusting the judgement of the people is the beginning of an untrustworthy presidency.

By: msday

msday — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:33:34 +0000

Before you go off on a tangent, diagnosing president Obama with a thin face, I think you need to look at most Africans who live in the horn of Africa, as they often meet those characteristics; long thin face, slender bodies, tall, etc.
Having said that, you need to consider that most Marfans patients are not very muscular, the last two fingers on the hands are usually longer than the first two, and they have a tendency to be short in the waist and have long legs. Hopefully, you have seen his topless photos in Newsweek proving that he has neither Pectus excavatum or pectus carinatum.
All tall thin people, do NOT have Marfans. He would look odd, having short arms and fingers with a tall body.

By: Coll

Coll — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:34:32 +0000

I read your article with great interest. As a medical student, I had also wondered about Obama’s physical features and the possibility of Marfan’s syndrome. In response to the previous comment from WTF, I would tend to disagree. This article clearly doesn’t make any diagnosis with regard to President Obama, but rather raises an interesting question, and provides a jumping off point to educate the public with regards to a syndrome that is frequently seen by medical professionals.

By: WTF

WTF — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:26:56 +0000

Wether you’re a medical doctor, a journalist or a mere mortal, publicising/writing/printing/publishing/announcing unsolicited medical diagnose is at the very least rude, if not unethical and irresponsible. To me those are signs speculative brown press and mercenary “journalism”.

By: QR

QR — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:34:27 +0000

Has anyone considered Obama looks like he has Marfan’s Syndrome? 6’1″ is a little short for a Marf but not unheard of.

Another article recently stated he had undergone an EKG test & it was normal. An EKG is NOT diagnostic – he needs an ECHOCARDIOGRAM! Undiagnosed Marfan affected persons rarely live past their 40′s without treatment due to aortic dissections or aneurysms.

Also, what about Joe Biden’s history of brain aneurysms? If the Dem’s win & both of them die we are STUCK with Peloski!!!

If I wasn’t already voting Republican I would simply because Palin I can live with, Peloski I can’t!

By: Moongazer

Moongazer — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:57:14 +0000

Um……actually there is a DNA test for Marfan. It isn’t 100% accurate but, along with a clinical diagnosis based on obvious signs you can be pretty sure whether you have it or not.

Once one person in the family has been found to have the fibrillin mutation other members can be assessed using DNA linkage analysis which is pretty accurate in most cases, I believe.

By: mark

mark — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:40:37 +0000

Mental note to self: “Don’t piss off a doctor”. They’ll get you in the end.

By: Hod

Hod — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:41:49 +0000

Abraham Lincoln apparently did not have it.

A 1962 theory that Lincoln had Marfan syndrome has little currency today.

Abraham Lincoln was both tall (6 ft 4 in) and thin (160–180 lb). He had long arms and legs, and large, narrow hands and feet. Contemporary descriptions of his appearance indicate that he was stoop-shouldered, loose-jointed, and walked with a shuffling gait. In addition, he wore eyeglasses to correct a visual problem. It is not surprising then that many have concluded that he suffered from Marfan’s syndrome. Certainly, he shared a great-great-grandfather with a man who had a confirmed diagnosis of Marfan’s. In fact, this observation, reported by Dr Harold Schwartz in 1959, was the beginning of a mystery that has taxed historians and doctors ever since. However, Lincoln showed few other signs of Marfan’s. He had visual problems, but examination of his eyeglasses reveals he was farsighted and not nearsighted – a classic symptom of Marfan’s. Also, a cast of his hands has shown that they were muscular and powerful, and not the slender hands of someone with Marfan’s syndrome. Although the fun of the mystery is often in the debate and not in the answer, this is one theory that could be tested: a limited amount of bone fragments and hair from Lincoln was retained by the attending physician at the time of his assassination. Molecular testing using these samples could end the debate in an instant.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=cardio&part=A978