Prairie State Wire

There were 432 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending October 30, a 11.7 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 30, there were 2,297 deaths in the state. 18.8 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.7 percent were from cancer and 14.9 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 9.2 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 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Heart disease	432	489
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	430	472
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	179	195
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	163	179
Cerebrovascular diseases	141	142
Alzheimer's disease	88	76
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	82	94
Diabetes mellitus	64	60
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	48	51
Influenza and pneumonia	38	35

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	211	204