Evergreen Reporter

There were 80 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in the state of Washington during the week ending October 23, a 40.4 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 23, there were 1,347 deaths in the state. 16.6 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.4 percent were from cancer and 22.5 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 10.2 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 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	235	275
Heart disease	223	249
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	161	206
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	142	193
Alzheimer's disease	80	57
Diabetes mellitus	54	37
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	51	53
Cerebrovascular diseases	48	54
Influenza and pneumonia	19	16
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	12	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Alzheimer disease and dementia	138	128