Natural State News

There were 57 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Arkansas during the week ending July 31, a 50 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 31, there were 825 deaths in the state. 21.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.6 percent were from cancer and 31.6 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7 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 2021-07-31	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24
Heart disease	175	130
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	145	123
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	138	117
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	123	107
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	57	38
Cerebrovascular diseases	32	34
Alzheimer's disease	31	24
Diabetes mellitus	24	21
Influenza and pneumonia	13	12
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	13	14

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24
Alzheimer disease and dementia	58	45