FORMER First Lady Barbara Bush is in “failing health” and won’t seek additional medical treatment, a Bush family spokesman said on Sunday.

“Following a recent series of hospitalisations, and after consulting her family and doctors, Mrs Bush, now age 92, has decided not to seek additional medical treatment and will instead focus on comfort care,” spokesman Jim McGrath said in a news release.

Mr McGrath did not elaborate as to the nature of Mrs Bush’s health problems. She has been treated for decades for Graves’ disease, which is a thyroid condition.

“It will not surprise those who know her that Barbara Bush has been a rock in the face of her failing health, worrying not for herself — thanks to her abiding faith — but for others,” Mr McGrath said.

“She is surrounded by a family she adores, and appreciates the many kind messages and especially the prayers she is receiving,” he said.

The short statement on Sunday did not indicate the nature of Bush’s illness but CNN reported that she was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure, and is being cared for at home in Houston.

As first lady from 1989 until the start of 1993, Bush was a popular national figure known for her sometimes blunt talk and self-deprecating wit. “She is surrounded by a family she adores and appreciates the many kind messages and especially the prayers she is receiving,” the statement added. Bush is the mother of former President George W. Bush, 71, the 43rd US president. Her husband, the 41st US president, is 93 years old.

Mrs Bush is one of only two first ladies who was also the mother of a president. The other was Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams and mother of John Quincy Adams.

Barbara Bush (nee Pierce) married George H.W. Bush in 1945. They had six children and have been married longer than any presidential couple in American history.

Eight years after she and her husband left the White House, Mrs Bush stood with her husband as their son George W. was sworn in as president.

Mrs Bush has a no-nonsense and down-to-earth public image saying that she let her hair go white because dyed hair didn’t look good on her, but she admitted to always wearing a string of pearls to hide the wrinkles in her neck.

Her major legacy has been trying to solve America’s literacy problem through The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, which she began during her White House years. The foundation aimed to improve the lives of disadvantaged Americans by boosting literacy among parents and their children and has awarded more than $40 million to create or expand more than 1,500 literacy programs nationwide.