Hawkeye Reporter

There were 31 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Iowa during the week ending August 14, a 55 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 14, there were 539 deaths in the state. 23.4 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 22.8 percent were from cancer and 12.2 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.2 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 2021-08-14	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07
Heart disease	126	145
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	123	116
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	35	27
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	31	20
Cerebrovascular diseases	28	28
Alzheimer's disease	21	26
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	20	33
Diabetes mellitus	18	22
Influenza and pneumonia	11	< 10
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-14	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07
Alzheimer disease and dementia	44	61