Prairie State Wire

There were 451 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending July 30, a 3.9% increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 30, there were 2,076 deaths in the state. 21.7% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.7% were from cancer and 6.6% were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.6% 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	Deaths in Week Ending July 30	Deaths in Week Ending July 23
Heart disease	451	434
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	430	413
Cerebrovascular diseases	120	121
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	88	108
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	82	92
Alzheimer's disease	70	62
Diabetes mellitus	59	59
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	55	63
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	46	54
Influenza and pneumonia	37	38

Cause of Death	Deaths in Week Ending July 30	Deaths in Week Ending July 23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	179	173