Prairie State Wire

There were 84 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending September 18, a 12 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 18, there were 2,280 deaths in the state. 18.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.3 percent were from cancer and 23.2 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 2021-09-18	Number of Deaths 2021-09-11
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	440	437
Heart disease	430	460
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	274	291
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	255	264
Cerebrovascular diseases	108	105
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	98	96
Alzheimer's disease	84	75
Diabetes mellitus	74	82
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	44	46
Influenza and pneumonia	31	35

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-18	Number of Deaths 2021-09-11
Alzheimer disease and dementia	194	174