Evergreen Reporter

There were 269 deaths with cancer listed as the underlying cause reported in the state of Washington during the week ending October 30, a 13.5 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 30, there were 1,375 deaths in the state. 18.8 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.6 percent were from cancer and 21.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 9.2 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 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	269	237
Heart disease	259	223
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	155	163
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	138	143
Alzheimer's disease	64	80
Cerebrovascular diseases	57	48
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	55	52
Diabetes mellitus	45	55
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	20
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	12

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	126	138