Buckeye Reporter

There were 520 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Ohio during the week ending August 7, a 9.9 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 7, there were 2,409 deaths in the state. 21.6 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.3 percent were from cancer and 5.8 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.8 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 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Heart disease	520	473
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	465	425
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	128	132
Cerebrovascular diseases	127	135
Diabetes mellitus	79	78
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	76	57
Alzheimer's disease	72	88
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	63	45
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	42	33
Influenza and pneumonia	16	29

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Alzheimer disease and dementia	188	177