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Hillary Clinton given clean bill of health by her doctor

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the National Urban League's conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida July 31,2015.REUTERS/Andrew Innerarity

By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is healthy and "fit to serve" with no lingering effects from a 2012 concussion that caused a health scare when she was secretary of state, her personal physician said on Friday. The Clinton campaign released a statement from her doctor, Lisa Bardack of Mount Kisco, New York, that detailed the health status of Clinton, the front-runner to represent the Democratic Party in the November 2016 presidential election. It said she takes blood thinners daily to guard against blood clots that have arisen on three occasions, in 1998, 2009 and 2012, and suffers from hypothyroidism. One of the questions about the 67-year-old Clinton's health has been whether she had completely recovered from a concussion suffered when she fainted in December 2012 after contracting a stomach virus while traveling abroad and becoming dehydrated. During follow-up evaluations concerning the concussion, Clinton was found to have a blood clot in her head, the doctor said. She said Clinton began anticoagulation therapy to dissolve the clot. The statement did not say whether the blood clot resulted from the concussion. She had been forced to wear special glasses for a while to counteract double vision that resulted from the concussion. The doctor's statement said follow-up tests showed a complete resolution of the effects of the concussion as well as a "total dissolution" of the blood clot. Clinton also tested negative for all clotting disorders but takes a daily anticoagulant as a result of the problem, the statement said. "She is in excellent physical condition and fit to serve as president of the United States," the statement said. The statement said Clinton suffers from hypothyroidism and seasonal allergies and had bouts of deep vein thrombosis in 1998 and 2009. Deep vein thrombosis occurs from blood clots in a deep vein like in a leg or thigh and can be caused by sitting in one position for too long such as in plane travel. She broke her elbow in 2009. A March 21 physical examination showed Clinton with some healthy vital statistics: Cholesterol of 195, a resting heart rate of 72 and blood pressure of 100 over 65. The statement said Clinton takes thyroid medicine to correct her hypothyroidism, a common malady in which the body lacks sufficient thyroid hormone. She does not smoke and drinks alcohol occasionally, the statement said. It added that she exercises regularly, including yoga, swimming, walking and weight training. (Reporting By Steve Holland; editing by Sandra Maler and Tom Brown)