Prairie State Wire

There were 117 deaths from cerebrovascular diseases reported in Illinois in the week ending Oct. 22, making up 6.2% of total deaths by all causes in Illinois, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Oct. 22, there were 1,877 deaths in the state. 21% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 21.4% were from cancer and 5.7% 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
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	401	21.4
Heart disease	395	21
Cerebrovascular diseases	117	6.2
Alzheimer's disease	89	4.7
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	68	3.6
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	62	3.3
Diabetes mellitus	48	2.6
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	47	2.5
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	45	2.4
Influenza and pneumonia	32	1.7