Volunteer State News

There were 41 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Tennessee during the week ending August 7, a 10.9 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 7, there were 1,669 deaths in the state. 18.4 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.2 percent were from cancer and 17.6 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.5 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 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Heart disease	307	310
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	303	293
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	152	94
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	141	90
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	96	83
Cerebrovascular diseases	86	82
Diabetes mellitus	45	43
Alzheimer's disease	41	46
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	27	18
Influenza and pneumonia	23	12

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Alzheimer disease and dementia	125	115