Magnolia State News

There were 21 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Mississippi during the week ending November 20, a 32.3 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending November 20, there were 641 deaths in the state. 23.7 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.7 percent were from cancer and 8 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 2021-11-20	Number of Deaths 2021-11-13
Heart disease	152	171
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	107	126
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	44	32
Cerebrovascular diseases	36	23
Alzheimer's disease	32	34
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	30	38
Diabetes mellitus	28	28
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	21	31
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	18	11
Influenza and pneumonia	13	13

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-11-20	Number of Deaths 2021-11-13
Alzheimer disease and dementia	56	54