Prairie State Wire

There were 61 deaths from Alzheimer's disease reported in Illinois in the week ending July 23, making up 3.5% of total deaths by all causes in Illinois, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 23, there were 1,742 deaths in the state. 20.7% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.4% were from cancer and 7.2% were from COVID-19.

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	% of Total Deaths
Heart disease	360	20.7
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	356	20.4
Cerebrovascular diseases	108	6.2
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	98	5.6
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	75	4.3
Alzheimer's disease	61	3.5
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	50	2.9
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	48	2.8
Diabetes mellitus	47	2.7
Influenza and pneumonia	34	2