Former President George H.W. Bush Recovering In Houston Hospital After 'Acute Respiratory Problem' [UPDATED]

HOUSTON, TX — Former President George H.W. Bush was admitted to a Houston hospital for shortness of breath, his spokesman Jim McGrath said Wednesday morning.

McGrath confirmed that Bush, 92, was taken to Houston Methodist and said the nation's 41st president has "responded very well to treatments."

According to a subsequent statement from the office of the former president, Bush was admitted to the intensive care unit following "...an acute respiratory problem stemming from pneumonia."

The elderly former president has been felled by pneumonia in the past, a condition exacerbated in older people with weakened immune systems. This time, "Doctors performed a procedure to protect and clear his airway that required sedation," his office said in the statement.

"President Bush is stable and resting comfortably in the ICU where he will remain for observation," the statement read.

As a precaution, former First Lady Barbara Bush, 91, also was admitted into the hospital Wednesday morning "...as a precaution after experiencing fatigue and coughing," the statement read.

Bush, the oldest living former president, was not planning on attending Friday's inauguration of Donald Trump, citing health concerns given that the ceremony takes place outdoors where participants face the elements. He is expected to be released from the hospital in the coming days, the Houston Chronicle reported.

"Barbara and I are so sorry we can't be there for your inauguration on Jan. 20," Bush wrote the president-elect in a note a week ago. "My doctor says if I sit outside in January, it likely will put me six feet under. Same for Barbara. So I guess we're stuck in Texas."

But he wished Trump well, saying he and the former First Lady would be there in spirit. "If I can ever be of help, please let me know," he added.

Bush's advanced age has prompted the onset of several health ailments in recent years. In July 2015, the former president was treated at a Portland, Maine, hospital for a fractured bone in his neck sustained in a fall at his family's summer home in Kennebunkport.

Six months before that, Bush was rushed to Houston Methodist after suffering a reported case of shortness of breath and was released about a week later, the Chronicle noted.

And in late 2012, the newspaper noted, Bush was hospitalized for a cough related to bronchitis. After being initially released, he returned to the hospital the day after Thanksgiving before being admitted to intensive care and spending two months hospitalized until his mid-January release in 2013.

Bush served as president from 1989 to 1993 after serving as vice president during Ronald Reagan's two terms.

By late Wednesday, officials at the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy thanked the public for the collective well wishes and sentiments of support for the Bushes:

>>> Official portrait of George H.W. Bush via Library of Congress