Great Lakes Wire

There were 89 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Michigan during the week ending November 6, a 9.9 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending November 6, there were 2,375 deaths in the state. 20.6 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.7 percent were from cancer and 26.7 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 2021-11-06	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30
Heart disease	489	507
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	421	416
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	334	330
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	299	305
Cerebrovascular diseases	145	101
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	119	107
Alzheimer's disease	89	81
Diabetes mellitus	64	61
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	45	34
Influenza and pneumonia	26	27

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-11-06	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30
Alzheimer disease and dementia	196	171