Natural State News

There were 53 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Arkansas during the week ending October 16, a 23.3 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 16, there were 728 deaths in the state. 17.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17 percent were from cancer and 22.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.7 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 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Heart disease	130	179
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	124	134
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	86	121
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	79	109
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	53	43
Cerebrovascular diseases	34	35
Alzheimer's disease	30	23
Diabetes mellitus	25	25
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	23	19
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	14

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Alzheimer disease and dementia	63	45