Great Lakes Wire

There were 81 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Michigan during the week ending October 30, a 20.9 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 30, there were 2,309 deaths in the state. 21.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18 percent were from cancer and 27.4 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 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Heart disease	505	485
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	416	418
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	328	349
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	304	324
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	107	98
Cerebrovascular diseases	101	101
Alzheimer's disease	81	67
Diabetes mellitus	61	67
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	34	40
Influenza and pneumonia	26	34

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	170	135