The family of Natalie Cole, daughter of Nat King Cole, has revealed that the cause of death of the legendary artist stemmed from idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, which led to heart failure. The singer passed on New Year's Day at age 65.
In a statement to the Associated Press, her family explained that after kidney surgery in 2009, Cole was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a disease of the lungs that causes shortness of breath, dizziness, and occasionally chest pain. Idiopathic means that the disease was spontaneous and there was no sign of what may have caused it.
The statement from Cole's family reads: "(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."
Our thoughts are with her family during this difficult time.
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