Prairie State Wire

There were 78 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in Illinois during the week ending Sept. 3, a 19.6% decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Sept. 3, there were 2,044 deaths in the state. 21.7% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.7% were from cancer and 6.5% were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.4% 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 Sept. 3	Deaths in Week Ending Aug. 27
Heart disease	444	446
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	423	423
Cerebrovascular diseases	134	111
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	94	82
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	78	97
Alzheimer's disease	69	71
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	57	40
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	55	62
Diabetes mellitus	52	43
Influenza and pneumonia	31	31

Cause of Death	Deaths in Week Ending Sept. 3	Deaths in Week Ending Aug. 27
Alzheimer disease and dementia	171	196