Prairie State Wire

There were 65 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending July 31, a 85.7 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 31, there were 2,056 deaths in the state. 21.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.4 percent were from cancer and 6.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.5 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 2021-07-31	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24
Heart disease	443	436
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	420	454
Cerebrovascular diseases	107	109
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	84	83
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	73	43
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	65	35
Alzheimer's disease	59	76
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	55	45
Diabetes mellitus	50	52
Influenza and pneumonia	24	23

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24
Alzheimer disease and dementia	175	186