Hawkeye Reporter

There were 33 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Iowa during the week ending December 4, a 10 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending December 4, there were 706 deaths in the state. 21.8 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.7 percent were from cancer and 26.5 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.2 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 2021-12-04	Number of Deaths 2021-11-27
Heart disease	154	177
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	125	125
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	99	96
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	88	83
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	33	30
Diabetes mellitus	32	20
Cerebrovascular diseases	28	31
Alzheimer's disease	17	40
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	11	11
Influenza and pneumonia	10	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-04	Number of Deaths 2021-11-27
Alzheimer disease and dementia	51	78