Natural State News

There were 106 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Arkansas during the week ending July 24, a 68.3 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 24, there were 709 deaths in the state. 18.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.3 percent were from cancer and 31.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 6.2 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 2021-07-24	Number of Deaths 2021-07-17
Heart disease	129	146
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	123	121
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	116	70
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	106	63
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	37	54
Cerebrovascular diseases	34	23
Alzheimer's disease	23	33
Diabetes mellitus	20	25
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	14	11
Influenza and pneumonia	12	16

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24	Number of Deaths 2021-07-17
Alzheimer disease and dementia	44	51