Hoosier State Today

There were 196 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Indiana during the week ending October 23, a 8 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 23, there were 1,429 deaths in the state. 19 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.4 percent were from cancer and 28.5 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.9 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	271	292
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	263	272
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	211	238
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	196	213
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	86	81
Cerebrovascular diseases	65	65
Alzheimer's disease	45	39
Diabetes mellitus	44	38
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	16	23
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	16

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Alzheimer disease and dementia	113	125