Old Dominion News

There were 76 deaths with cerebrovascular disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Virginia during the week ending July 31, a 10.1 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 31, there were 1,465 deaths in the state. 19.7 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 22.3 percent were from cancer and 5.1 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 10.5 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
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	326	295
Heart disease	288	270
Cerebrovascular diseases	76	69
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	66	48
Alzheimer's disease	52	41
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	42	16
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	35	27
Diabetes mellitus	35	34
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	33	13
Influenza and pneumonia	13	15

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24
Alzheimer disease and dementia	154	153