Magnolia State News

There were 35 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Mississippi during the week ending Dec. 25, a 7.9 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Dec. 25, there were 538 deaths in the state. 24.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 15.2 percent were from cancer and 14.1 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.8 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 2021-12-25	Number of Deaths 2021-12-18
Heart disease	130	140
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	82	127
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	42	52
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	41	49
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	35	38
Cerebrovascular diseases	33	39
Alzheimer's disease	25	29
Diabetes mellitus	18	25
Influenza and pneumonia	12	17
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	11	18

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-25	Number of Deaths 2021-12-18
Alzheimer disease and dementia	42	49