Keystone Today

There were 133 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Pennsylvania during the week ending October 16, a 34.3 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 16, there were 3,063 deaths in the state. 18.6 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.9 percent were from cancer and 32.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.2 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	570	641
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	518	498
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	511	491
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	477	439
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	133	99
Cerebrovascular diseases	127	138
Alzheimer's disease	75	77
Diabetes mellitus	67	76
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	56	59
Influenza and pneumonia	39	32

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Alzheimer disease and dementia	221	248