Great Lakes Wire

There were 465 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Michigan during the week ending August 14, a 5.7 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 14, there were 1,913 deaths in the state. 24.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.9 percent were from cancer and 7.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.4 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 2021-08-14	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07
Heart disease	465	440
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	399	415
Cerebrovascular diseases	92	100
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	85	90
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	82	43
Alzheimer's disease	68	69
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	65	34
Diabetes mellitus	54	51
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	29	34
Influenza and pneumonia	14	18

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-14	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07
Alzheimer disease and dementia	142	146