Hawkeye Reporter

There were 34 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Iowa during the week ending August 21, a 61.9 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 21, there were 620 deaths in the state. 21.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.3 percent were from cancer and 14.4 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 10.5 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 2021-08-21	Number of Deaths 2021-08-14
Heart disease	132	128
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	126	124
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	47	35
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	42	31
Alzheimer's disease	34	21
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	31	20
Diabetes mellitus	18	18
Cerebrovascular diseases	13	28
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	11
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-21	Number of Deaths 2021-08-14
Alzheimer disease and dementia	65	44