Prairie State Wire

There were 275 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending Feb. 19, a 38.9 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Feb. 19, there were 1,426 deaths in the state. 19.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.4 percent were from cancer and 24.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 10.2 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 2022-02-19	Number of Deaths 2022-02-12
Heart disease	275	450
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	234	373
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	190	396
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	162	333
Cerebrovascular diseases	78	113
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	65	90
Alzheimer's disease	60	84
Diabetes mellitus	30	55
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	28	45
Influenza and pneumonia	20	20

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2022-02-19	Number of Deaths 2022-02-12
Alzheimer disease and dementia	145	233