Prairie State Wire

There were 102 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending July 10, a 30.8 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 10, there were 2,093 deaths in the state. 21.7 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.8 percent were from cancer and 3.9 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.2 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 2021-07-10	Number of Deaths 2021-07-03
Heart disease	454	427
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	435	470
Cerebrovascular diseases	111	119
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	102	78
Alzheimer's disease	68	64
Diabetes mellitus	51	65
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	43	36
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	43	45
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	39	34
Influenza and pneumonia	26	25

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-10	Number of Deaths 2021-07-03
Alzheimer disease and dementia	172	158