Natural State News

There were 107 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Arkansas during the week ending October 9, a 23 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 9, there were 808 deaths in the state. 21.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.5 percent were from cancer and 27.8 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 5.3 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 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Heart disease	177	156
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	133	130
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	118	144
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	107	139
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	43	48
Cerebrovascular diseases	35	28
Diabetes mellitus	25	28
Alzheimer's disease	23	34
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	18	10
Influenza and pneumonia	15	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Alzheimer disease and dementia	43	60