Pelican State News

There were 38 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Louisiana during the week ending October 23, a 15.2 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 23, there were 815 deaths in the state. 20.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.7 percent were from cancer and 14 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 10.6 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
Heart disease	170	200
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	136	174
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	59	100
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	55	92
Cerebrovascular diseases	48	34
Alzheimer's disease	38	33
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	33	33
Diabetes mellitus	31	27
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	14	11
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	11

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Alzheimer disease and dementia	86	75