Beaver State News

There were 79 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Oregon during the week ending August 14, a 51.9 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 14, there were 839 deaths in the state. 16.7 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.1 percent were from cancer and 19.5 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 9.3 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
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	160	167
Heart disease	140	129
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	85	59
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	79	52
Alzheimer's disease	41	40
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	39	29
Cerebrovascular diseases	38	31
Diabetes mellitus	30	25
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	< 10
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-14	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07
Alzheimer disease and dementia	78	91