NEW YORK (AP) — Natalie Cole’s family said the singer’s cause of death was idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, which led to heart failure.
Her family said in a statement to The Associated Press on Thursday that after Cole received a kidney transplant in 2009, she was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a rare lung disease that causes shortness of breath, dizziness and sometimes chest pain. Because Cole’s case was idiopathic, the exact cause is unknown.
The statement read: “(Cole) responded well to pulmonary arterial hypertension-specific agents over many years, during which she performed many concerts world-wide, but eventually succumbed to intractable right heart failure, an outcome that unfortunately commonly occurs in this progressive disorder.â€
Cole died last week. She had battled drug problems and hepatitis that forced her to undergo a kidney transplant.
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