Yellowhammer Times

There were 44 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Alabama during the week ending Dec. 25, a 18.5 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Dec. 25, there were 727 deaths in the state. 25 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 15 percent were from cancer and 13.1 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.4 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 2021-12-25	Number of Deaths 2021-12-18
Heart disease	182	238
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	109	155
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	51	61
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	44	49
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	44	54
Cerebrovascular diseases	38	47
Alzheimer's disease	37	51
Diabetes mellitus	18	26
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	17	13
Influenza and pneumonia	16	21

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-25	Number of Deaths 2021-12-18
Alzheimer disease and dementia	61	79