Sooner State News

There were 80 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Oklahoma during the week ending December 11, a 4.8 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending December 11, there were 812 deaths in the state. 25.1 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16 percent were from cancer and 21.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.3 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 2021-12-11	Number of Deaths 2021-12-04
Heart disease	204	171
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	130	150
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	93	95
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	80	84
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	63	54
Alzheimer's disease	37	33
Cerebrovascular diseases	25	28
Diabetes mellitus	18	< 10
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	18
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-11	Number of Deaths 2021-12-04
Alzheimer disease and dementia	59	64