Prairie State Wire

There were 226 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending September 4, a 13 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 4, there were 2,343 deaths in the state. 19.1 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.1 percent were from cancer and 20 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 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	448	445
Heart disease	448	453
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	242	216
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	226	200
Cerebrovascular diseases	107	111
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	96	90
Alzheimer's disease	85	89
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	51	46
Diabetes mellitus	51	67
Influenza and pneumonia	28	25

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Alzheimer disease and dementia	205	208