Prairie State Wire

There were 61 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Illinois during the week ending Aug. 27, a 21.8% decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Aug. 27, there were 2,068 deaths in the state. 21.4% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.4% were from cancer and 7.5% were from COVID-19. Additionally, 9.5% 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 Aug. 27	Deaths in Week Ending Aug. 20
Heart disease	442	462
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	422	433
Cerebrovascular diseases	111	116
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	95	102
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	82	82
Alzheimer's disease	71	62
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	61	78
Diabetes mellitus	42	50
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	40	44
Influenza and pneumonia	31	24

Cause of Death	Deaths in Week Ending Aug. 27	Deaths in Week Ending Aug. 20
Alzheimer disease and dementia	196	192