Prairie State Wire

There were 477 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending October 23, a 11.2 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 23, there were 2,356 deaths in the state. 20.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20 percent were from cancer and 15.6 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 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Heart disease	477	429
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	471	408
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	192	208
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	176	187
Cerebrovascular diseases	142	117
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	93	67
Alzheimer's disease	76	76
Diabetes mellitus	60	51
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	51	62
Influenza and pneumonia	35	29

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Alzheimer disease and dementia	204	179