Volunteer State News

There were 157 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Tennessee during the week ending December 11, a 2.6 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending December 11, there were 1,737 deaths in the state. 18.8 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17 percent were from cancer and 18.8 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.5 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 2021-12-11	Number of Deaths 2021-12-04
Heart disease	327	341
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	296	293
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	170	167
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	157	153
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	105	83
Cerebrovascular diseases	74	89
Alzheimer's disease	72	58
Diabetes mellitus	48	32
Influenza and pneumonia	33	29
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	22	24

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-11	Number of Deaths 2021-12-04
Alzheimer disease and dementia	148	158