Hoosier State Today

There were 39 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Indiana during the week ending November 20, a 20.4 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending November 20, there were 1,496 deaths in the state. 20.1 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.2 percent were from cancer and 24.5 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.9 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 2021-11-20	Number of Deaths 2021-11-13
Heart disease	301	317
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	273	249
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	192	192
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	174	173
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	95	83
Cerebrovascular diseases	60	65
Alzheimer's disease	39	49
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	33	38
Diabetes mellitus	32	48
Influenza and pneumonia	10	14

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-11-20	Number of Deaths 2021-11-13
Alzheimer disease and dementia	133	127