Keystone Today

There were 56 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Pennsylvania during the week ending May 21, 2022, a 33.3% increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending May 21, 2022, there were 1,758 deaths in the state. 22.5% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 22.1% were from cancer and 7.5% were from COVID-19.

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	Deaths in Week Ending May 21, 2022	Deaths in Week Ending May 14, 2022
Heart disease	395	442
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	388	450
Cerebrovascular diseases	77	119
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	75	60
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	73	89
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	56	42
Diabetes mellitus	51	59
Alzheimer's disease	47	66
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	40	50
Influenza and pneumonia	33	23