Beaver State News

There were 37 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Oregon during the week ending October 30, a 5.7 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 30, there were 844 deaths in the state. 17.8 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.1 percent were from cancer and 26.9 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 10 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	150	138
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	136	167
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	123	137
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	104	117
Cerebrovascular diseases	49	61
Alzheimer's disease	38	48
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	37	35
Diabetes mellitus	27	28
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	< 10
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	84	104