Hoosier State Today

There were 213 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Indiana during the week ending October 16, a 12.7 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 16, there were 1,502 deaths in the state. 19.4 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.1 percent were from cancer and 30 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.3 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 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Heart disease	292	288
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	272	289
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	238	268
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	213	244
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	81	95
Cerebrovascular diseases	65	51
Alzheimer's disease	39	36
Diabetes mellitus	38	60
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	23	19
Influenza and pneumonia	16	19

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Alzheimer disease and dementia	125	115