Natural State News

There were 56 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Arkansas during the week ending July 10, a 43.6 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 10, there were 673 deaths in the state. 23.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.2 percent were from cancer and 17.4 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 5.8 percent of deaths were from Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Studies show doctors and medical examiners may underreport Alzheimer's disease and dementia-related conditions as the underlying cause of death on death certificates, according to the National Institute on Aging.

Once infected, older adults with dementia are likely to develop a more severe and dangerous illness. The diseases which make an older adult more vulnerable to COVID-19 are age-associated chronic conditions, according to the Bright Focus Foundation.

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-10	Number of Deaths 2021-07-03
Heart disease	157	136
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	116	115
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	61	45
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	56	39
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	34	49
Cerebrovascular diseases	32	36
Diabetes mellitus	31	21
Alzheimer's disease	18	22
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	17	20
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-10	Number of Deaths 2021-07-03
Alzheimer disease and dementia	39	50