NEW YORK, Sept 3 (AFP) - Former US president Bill Clinton was admitted to a New York hospital on Friday to undergo bypass surgery, his office told US media.
Several networks said Clinton, who was 58 in August, would need quadruple by-pass surgery.
The New York Times reported that Clinton had suffered a heart attack but this was not confirmed by his office which released a statement saying Clinton went to a local hospital on Friday because of mild chest pains and shortness of breath, CNN television reported.
The statement said the former president went to a hospital near his home in Westchester county in the New York suburbs. CNN reported that Clinton left the hospital and returned to spend the night at his home, but additional tests Friday led doctors to admit him for surgery at Columbia-Presbyterian hospital in New York which is known for its cardiology department.
CNN said the surgery could take place on Saturday.
Clinton's office said his wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea would be at the hospital.
A Columbia-Prebyterian hospital spokesman declined to comment, but secret service agents were at the building.
Clinton has spent recent months promoting his best-selling autobiography "My Life". He also keeps up a punishing schedule of international speaking engagements while Hillary pursues her political career in the US Senate.
The former president was at a book signing engagement in New Orleans, Louisiana on Wednesday.
Media reports said he was meant to be with Hillary at an engagement in Syracuse, New York state on Friday. It was not immediately clear if she went ahead with the engagement.
The White House and Democratic presidential contender John Kerry were being informed of events, officials said.
Clinton was one of the major speakers at the Democratic party national convention in Boston at the end of July and the Kerry campaign had hoped he would make appearances to back Kerry's bid to unseat Republican president George W. Bush in the November 2 election.
Clinton was president from 1993 until 2001 and became known for his love of hamburgers, though he was also a regular jogger.
As president he had a famously hearty appetite but has visibly lost weight since leaving office. He has reportedly followed the South Beach low-starch diet.