Prairie State Wire

There were 125 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in Illinois during the week ending May 29, a 32.8 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending May 29, there were 2,019 deaths in the state. 21.1 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.8 percent were from cancer and 11.5 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 2021-05-29	Number of Deaths 2021-05-22
Heart disease	427	443
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	380	449
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	125	186
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	108	166
Cerebrovascular diseases	104	114
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	78	94
Alzheimer's disease	53	82
Diabetes mellitus	49	53
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	34	44
Influenza and pneumonia	29	23

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-05-29	Number of Deaths 2021-05-22
Alzheimer disease and dementia	176	208