Grand Canyon Times

There were 49 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Arizona during the week ending August 7, a 63.3 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 7, there were 1,483 deaths in the state. 16.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.2 percent were from cancer and 15.9 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.3 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 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	270	264
Heart disease	251	232
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	122	108
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	114	99
Cerebrovascular diseases	73	53
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	58	57
Diabetes mellitus	52	43
Alzheimer's disease	49	30
Influenza and pneumonia	16	20
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	13	20

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Alzheimer disease and dementia	109	93