Great Lakes Wire

There were 305 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Michigan during the week ending May 15, a 13.4 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending May 15, there were 2,109 deaths in the state. 21.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18 percent were from cancer and 30.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.2 percent 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	Number of Deaths 2021-05-15	Number of Deaths 2021-05-08
Heart disease	450	483
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	380	360
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	333	384
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	305	352
Cerebrovascular diseases	101	92
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	97	86
Alzheimer's disease	68	79
Diabetes mellitus	60	74
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	39	27
Influenza and pneumonia	20	18

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-05-15	Number of Deaths 2021-05-08
Alzheimer disease and dementia	151	143