Great Lakes Wire

There were 461 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Michigan during the week ending July 17, a 4.3 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 17, there were 1,838 deaths in the state. 25.1 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 22 percent were from cancer and 1.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.3 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 2021-07-17	Number of Deaths 2021-07-10
Heart disease	461	442
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	405	378
Cerebrovascular diseases	93	108
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	90	84
Alzheimer's disease	69	66
Diabetes mellitus	61	57
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	28	37
Influenza and pneumonia	27	23
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	19	30
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	13	18

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-17	Number of Deaths 2021-07-10
Alzheimer disease and dementia	153	146