Prairie State Wire

There were 90 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending December 11, a 7.2 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending December 11, there were 2,554 deaths in the state. 19.4 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.6 percent were from cancer and 25.6 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8 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 2021-12-11	Number of Deaths 2021-12-04
Heart disease	495	475
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	475	470
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	342	268
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	312	242
Cerebrovascular diseases	136	146
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	90	97
Alzheimer's disease	77	99
Diabetes mellitus	64	66
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	45	38
Influenza and pneumonia	35	36

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-11	Number of Deaths 2021-12-04
Alzheimer disease and dementia	205	251