Prairie State Wire

There were 78 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending September 25, a 7.1 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 25, there were 2,300 deaths in the state. 18.1 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.3 percent were from cancer and 19.5 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 2021-09-25	Number of Deaths 2021-09-18
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	466	440
Heart disease	417	432
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	234	277
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	214	257
Cerebrovascular diseases	134	109
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	98	98
Alzheimer's disease	78	84
Diabetes mellitus	61	74
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	46	44
Influenza and pneumonia	30	31

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-25	Number of Deaths 2021-09-18
Alzheimer disease and dementia	195	194