Bluegrass Times

There were 71 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Kentucky during the week ending August 7, a 14.5 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 7, there were 954 deaths in the state. 21.1 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.9 percent were from cancer and 16.1 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.1 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 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Heart disease	201	234
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	180	169
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	83	70
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	71	52
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	71	62
Cerebrovascular diseases	47	44
Diabetes mellitus	33	20
Alzheimer's disease	28	34
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	22	13
Influenza and pneumonia	17	11

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Alzheimer disease and dementia	68	87