Natural State News

There were 69 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in Arkansas during the week ending July 17, a 13.1 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 17, there were 703 deaths in the state. 20.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.2 percent were from cancer and 18.6 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.3 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 2021-07-17	Number of Deaths 2021-07-10
Heart disease	144	157
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	121	117
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	69	61
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	62	56
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	53	34
Alzheimer's disease	33	19
Diabetes mellitus	25	31
Cerebrovascular diseases	23	32
Influenza and pneumonia	16	< 10
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	11	17

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-17	Number of Deaths 2021-07-10
Alzheimer disease and dementia	51	40