Prairie State Wire

There were 78 deaths with COVID-19 listed as a contributing cause reported in Illinois during the week ending Sept. 24, a 3.7% decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Sept. 24, there were 2,099 deaths in the state. 22% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 21.8% were from cancer and 6.1% were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.2% 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. 24	Deaths in Week Ending Sept. 17
Heart disease	461	458
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	458	430
Cerebrovascular diseases	112	116
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	92	82
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	78	81
Alzheimer's disease	59	68
Diabetes mellitus	55	49
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	50	36
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	50	49
Influenza and pneumonia	33	33

Cause of Death	Deaths in Week Ending Sept. 24	Deaths in Week Ending Sept. 17
Alzheimer disease and dementia	173	197