Sunflower State News

There were 72 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Kansas during the week ending October 23, a 18 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 23, there were 626 deaths in the state. 19.6 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 15.3 percent were from cancer and 24 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.8 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 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Heart disease	123	104
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	96	113
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	78	67
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	72	61
Cerebrovascular diseases	30	30
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	27	31
Alzheimer's disease	19	11
Diabetes mellitus	18	18
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	< 10
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	13

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Alzheimer disease and dementia	55	52