Great Lakes Wire

There were 21 deaths with influenza and pneumonia listed as the underlying cause reported in Michigan during the week ending September 18, a 19.2 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 18, there were 2,139 deaths in the state. 21.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 21.1 percent were from cancer and 18.8 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8 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 2021-09-18	Number of Deaths 2021-09-11
Heart disease	460	454
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	451	390
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	215	162
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	188	148
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	90	100
Cerebrovascular diseases	87	109
Alzheimer's disease	80	57
Diabetes mellitus	68	60
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	37	33
Influenza and pneumonia	21	26

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-18	Number of Deaths 2021-09-11
Alzheimer disease and dementia	172	135