Keystone Today

There were 214 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Pennsylvania during the week ending September 4, a 19.6 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 4, there were 2,774 deaths in the state. 20.9 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.3 percent were from cancer and 16.1 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 9.4 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 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Heart disease	579	528
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	534	515
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	233	193
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	214	179
Cerebrovascular diseases	127	119
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	104	101
Alzheimer's disease	97	79
Diabetes mellitus	63	61
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	45	62
Influenza and pneumonia	21	37

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Alzheimer disease and dementia	261	226