Pelican State News

There were 48 deaths with cerebrovascular disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Louisiana during the week ending October 9, a 12.7 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 9, there were 886 deaths in the state. 21 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.9 percent were from cancer and 26.4 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.9 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 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Heart disease	186	177
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	176	180
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	120	145
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	114	134
Cerebrovascular diseases	48	55
Alzheimer's disease	39	37
Diabetes mellitus	33	37
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	33	46
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	23	17
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Alzheimer disease and dementia	70	76