Keystone Today

There were 561 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Pennsylvania during the week ending Sept. 17, 2022, a 3.7% increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Sept. 17, 2022, there were 2,545 deaths in the state. 22% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 21.8% were from cancer and 7.2% were from COVID-19. Additionally, 9.4% 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	Deaths in Week Ending Sept. 17, 2022	Deaths in Week Ending Sept. 10, 2022
Heart disease	561	541
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	554	481
Cerebrovascular diseases	127	128
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	109	138
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	96	82
Alzheimer's disease	77	57
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	75	90
Diabetes mellitus	62	73
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	44	57
Influenza and pneumonia	20	26

Cause of Death	Deaths in Week Ending Sept. 17, 2022	Deaths in Week Ending Sept. 10, 2022
Alzheimer disease and dementia	239	195