Beaver State News

There were 41 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Oregon during the week ending Dec. 18, a 18 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Dec. 18, there were 520 deaths in the state. 18.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.7 percent were from cancer and 17.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.7 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 2021-12-18	Number of Deaths 2021-12-11
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	97	148
Heart disease	96	128
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	49	61
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	41	50
Cerebrovascular diseases	34	37
Alzheimer's disease	28	44
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	24	34
Diabetes mellitus	16	15
Influenza and pneumonia	12	< 10
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-18	Number of Deaths 2021-12-11
Alzheimer disease and dementia	45	86