Buckeye Reporter

There were 318 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Ohio during the week ending September 4, a 35.3 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 4, there were 2,709 deaths in the state. 19.6 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.7 percent were from cancer and 24.2 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.3 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 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Heart disease	532	530
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	480	507
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	337	247
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	318	235
Cerebrovascular diseases	124	123
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	114	135
Alzheimer's disease	89	109
Diabetes mellitus	73	69
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	36	43
Influenza and pneumonia	24	28

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Alzheimer disease and dementia	197	224