Prairie State Wire

There were 35 deaths with influenza and pneumonia listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending September 11, a 25 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 11, there were 2,363 deaths in the state. 19.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.5 percent were from cancer and 23.4 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.4 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 2021-09-11	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04
Heart disease	454	456
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	436	449
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	290	244
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	263	228
Cerebrovascular diseases	105	107
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	95	96
Diabetes mellitus	81	52
Alzheimer's disease	75	86
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	46	51
Influenza and pneumonia	35	28

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-11	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04
Alzheimer disease and dementia	174	206