Sooner State News

There were 59 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Oklahoma during the week ending October 30, a 37.2 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 30, there were 827 deaths in the state. 20.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 15.5 percent were from cancer and 25 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.1 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
Heart disease	167	186
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	128	142
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	111	137
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	96	106
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	59	43
Cerebrovascular diseases	37	28
Alzheimer's disease	33	35
Diabetes mellitus	24	27
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	< 10
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	67	69