Prairie State Wire

There were 76 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending November 20, a 23.2 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending November 20, there were 2,337 deaths in the state. 20.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.3 percent were from cancer and 15.1 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 2021-11-20	Number of Deaths 2021-11-13
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	475	397
Heart disease	473	491
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	184	162
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	170	142
Cerebrovascular diseases	135	138
Alzheimer's disease	92	82
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	76	99
Diabetes mellitus	70	72
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	53	64
Influenza and pneumonia	27	31

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-11-20	Number of Deaths 2021-11-13
Alzheimer disease and dementia	215	230