Hawkeye Reporter

There were 85 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Iowa during the week ending October 23, a 13.3 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 23, there were 712 deaths in the state. 20.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.5 percent were from cancer and 25.8 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 10.8 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 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Heart disease	146	135
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	132	121
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	99	106
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	85	98
Cerebrovascular diseases	30	20
Alzheimer's disease	26	21
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	25	32
Diabetes mellitus	19	14
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	13	10
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	< 10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Alzheimer disease and dementia	77	40