Old Dominion News

There were 55 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Virginia during the week ending September 18, a 3.8 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 18, there were 1,734 deaths in the state. 17.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17 percent were from cancer and 33.4 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 10.1 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 2021-09-18	Number of Deaths 2021-09-11
Heart disease	303	288
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	296	237
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	295	294
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	284	228
Cerebrovascular diseases	68	63
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	58	62
Alzheimer's disease	55	53
Diabetes mellitus	53	42
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	42	33
Influenza and pneumonia	13	18

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-18	Number of Deaths 2021-09-11
Alzheimer disease and dementia	176	169