Natural State News

There were 46 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Arkansas during the week ending October 30, a 4.5 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 30, there were 723 deaths in the state. 22 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.2 percent were from cancer and 18.5 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.4 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 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Heart disease	159	151
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	124	123
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	70	77
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	64	73
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	46	44
Cerebrovascular diseases	38	27
Alzheimer's disease	35	32
Diabetes mellitus	21	28
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	16	17
Influenza and pneumonia	12	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	61	59