Volunteer State News

There were 283 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Tennessee during the week ending August 14, a 96.5 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 14, there were 1,770 deaths in the state. 19 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 14.5 percent were from cancer and 32.6 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 6.7 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 2021-08-14	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07
Heart disease	337	313
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	294	155
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	283	144
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	256	304
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	86	96
Cerebrovascular diseases	80	86
Alzheimer's disease	58	41
Diabetes mellitus	54	46
Influenza and pneumonia	26	23
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	17	28

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-14	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07
Alzheimer disease and dementia	119	126