Yellowhammer Times

There were 46 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Alabama during the week ending December 11, a 16.4 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending December 11, there were 1,054 deaths in the state. 23.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.6 percent were from cancer and 9 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.9 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	252	279
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	175	196
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	69	53
Cerebrovascular diseases	52	63
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	49	64
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	46	55
Alzheimer's disease	43	51
Diabetes mellitus	28	26
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	25	21
Influenza and pneumonia	16	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-11	Number of Deaths 2021-12-04
Alzheimer disease and dementia	94	94