Hawkeye Reporter

There were 100 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Iowa during the week ending October 9, a 7.5 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 9, there were 692 deaths in the state. 21.4 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.2 percent were from cancer and 30.9 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 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Heart disease	148	172
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	126	105
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	114	100
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	100	93
Diabetes mellitus	29	19
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	29	25
Cerebrovascular diseases	27	34
Alzheimer's disease	26	30
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	< 10
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Alzheimer disease and dementia	57	69