Congestive Heart Failure: Elizabeth Taylor's Cause Of Death

Legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor passed away this morning at the age of 79 from congestive heart failure.

Taylor disclosed she had heart failure in 2004, and was hospitalized for it in February 2011. The silver screen star's publicist had said she was in stable condition in mid-March.

The condition is a situation where the heart cannot appropriately pump enough blood to the body's organs, according to the American Heart Association. It can be caused by any number of things.

Below are a few potential causes, from the American Heart Association:

• narrowed arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle -- coronary artery disease
• past heart attack, or myocardial infarction, with scar tissue that interferes with the heart muscle's normal work
• high blood pressure
• heart valve disease due to past rheumatic fever or other causes
• primary disease of the heart muscle itself, called cardiomyopathy.
• heart defects present at birth -- congenital heart defects.
• infection of the heart valves and/or heart muscle itself -- endocarditis and/or myocarditis

A diagnosis of heart failure requires close monitoring, according to the National Institutes of Health. Treatment includes losing weight, quitting smoking, and limiting salt intake.

The symptoms are relatively generic, and include shortness of breath, nausea, and sleep loss. However, some people may show no sign of the condition before being diagnosed or faced with a difficult situation.

For a full list of signs, symptoms and treatments, click here for more from the National Institutes of Health.

Comments

[Artos]

04:39 PM on 03/26/2011

I'm sure I'm probably way off the mark here, but I've always assumed that anyone who dies in the care of a hospital or doctor because they were unable to keep you from dying or had contributed to it, was usually lumped under congestive heart failure. I see it a lot in the obits.

[golfnut49]

07:51 PM on 03/24/2011

Smoking is a huge cause of heart disease........my dad died of this along with emphazema........smoking three packs of Camels a day leads to a very short and limited life........ET spent a life of smoking and drinking everything in sight...........

[BoyInBOYCOTT]

02:42 AM on 03/24/2011

Dealing with Congestive Heart Failure for the last several weeks...like aging, and HIV/AIDS for 25 years....it ain't for sissies.

[Selma Silver]

05:52 PM on 03/23/2011

Lucky to have had her family with her when she passed. Her generosity is legend. Her strength to go on, a wonderful gift.To me her beauty was not as interesting as her talent.Her sense of humor liberating. She helped many people, and was a good friend to those shunned by others. We may know that by hearsay only, but I believe it to be true. Most of all I admire her hellfire spirit:her intelligence. She did so much in such a short life. RIP.

[Chuck Bluestein]

05:14 PM on 03/23/2011

I believe that Elizabeth Taylor was most famous for playing Cleopatra. In here day she was the most popular actress around. Also she was very good friends with Michael Jackson. Many times heart failure will happen with no symptoms before that. I know a guy that had heart failure and the doctors could not detect it until a year later when he died and they did an autopsy on him.

[Pearlswan]

04:48 PM on 03/23/2011

Congestive heart failure is a stress related disorder. See New Yorker magazine, March 21, 2011, cover article. Also, see Scientific American Mind, latest edition, article on resilience. Both articles discuss how stress leads to congestive heart failure. Weight gain, loss of sleep, nausea are all symptoms of stress disorders.

In fact, childhood abuse & spousal abuse are highly correlated with the development of congestive heart failure in later life. Stress kills!

[Kellybelle22]

06:24 PM on 03/23/2011

You can read more accurate descriptions of what causes CHF here. Stress doesn't help it, certainly, but it has much more specific causes than "stress" or a history of abuse. Two of the health circumstances that contribute greatly to CHF but which are not listed here are also cigarette smoking and uncontrolled obesity, especially as patients get past the age of 50.

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4585