Sunflower State News

There were 96 deaths with cancer listed as the underlying cause reported in Kansas during the week ending August 7, a 13.5 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 7, there were 595 deaths in the state. 18.8 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.1 percent were from cancer and 27.6 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.6 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 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Heart disease	112	87
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	96	111
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	86	48
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	78	46
Cerebrovascular diseases	35	22
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	31	25
Alzheimer's disease	19	< 10
Diabetes mellitus	16	< 10
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	< 10
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Alzheimer disease and dementia	51	46