Old Dominion News

There were 18 deaths with influenza and pneumonia listed as the underlying cause reported in Virginia during the week ending December 4, a 21.7 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending December 4, there were 1,691 deaths in the state. 21.1 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.5 percent were from cancer and 15.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 11.4 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 2021-12-04	Number of Deaths 2021-11-27
Heart disease	356	332
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	296	323
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	137	131
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	122	117
Cerebrovascular diseases	88	73
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	59	61
Diabetes mellitus	46	51
Alzheimer's disease	45	49
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	34	25
Influenza and pneumonia	18	23

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-04	Number of Deaths 2021-11-27
Alzheimer disease and dementia	193	160