Hoosier State Today

There were 278 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Indiana during the week ending November 27, a 7.6 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending November 27, there were 1,471 deaths in the state. 18.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 15.7 percent were from cancer and 27.5 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 9.9 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 2021-11-27	Number of Deaths 2021-11-20
Heart disease	278	301
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	231	273
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	213	192
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	192	174
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	84	95
Cerebrovascular diseases	69	60
Alzheimer's disease	47	39
Diabetes mellitus	43	32
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	33	33
Influenza and pneumonia	15	10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-11-27	Number of Deaths 2021-11-20
Alzheimer disease and dementia	145	133