Sooner State News

There were 27 deaths with cerebrovascular disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Oklahoma during the week ending October 23, a 12.5 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 23, there were 848 deaths in the state. 21.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.6 percent were from cancer and 28.4 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8 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	181	230
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	141	143
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	136	138
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	105	126
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	42	51
Alzheimer's disease	34	20
Diabetes mellitus	27	25
Cerebrovascular diseases	27	24
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	12
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Alzheimer disease and dementia	68	50