Volunteer State News

There were 72 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Tennessee during the week ending October 30, a 9.1 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 30, there were 1,691 deaths in the state. 18 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.6 percent were from cancer and 25.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 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 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Heart disease	304	329
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	280	277
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	228	301
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	199	281
Cerebrovascular diseases	89	83
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	72	66
Diabetes mellitus	46	51
Alzheimer's disease	39	46
Influenza and pneumonia	29	21
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	20	27

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	118	130