Bluegrass Times

There were 34 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Kentucky during the week ending October 30, a 13.3 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 30, there were 969 deaths in the state. 19 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.5 percent were from cancer and 29.6 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.5 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 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Heart disease	184	198
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	170	180
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	151	219
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	136	185
Cerebrovascular diseases	58	40
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	50	64
Alzheimer's disease	34	30
Diabetes mellitus	25	35
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	21	17
Influenza and pneumonia	10	15

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	73	81