Volunteer State News

There were 64 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Tennessee during the week ending Dec. 18, a 39 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Dec. 18, there were 1,428 deaths in the state. 20.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16 percent were from cancer and 18.8 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.6 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 2021-12-18	Number of Deaths 2021-12-11
Heart disease	289	327
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	228	296
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	141	170
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	127	157
Cerebrovascular diseases	77	74
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	64	105
Alzheimer's disease	51	72
Diabetes mellitus	36	48
Influenza and pneumonia	28	33
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	16	22

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-18	Number of Deaths 2021-12-11
Alzheimer disease and dementia	108	148