Maryland State Wire

There were 198 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Maryland during the week ending August 7, a 6.2 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 7, there were 945 deaths in the state. 21 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.3 percent were from cancer and 5.1 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.9 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 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Heart disease	198	211
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	192	192
Cerebrovascular diseases	54	53
Diabetes mellitus	31	39
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	31	23
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	27	19
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	21	17
Alzheimer's disease	20	15
Influenza and pneumonia	13	15
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	11	14

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31
Alzheimer disease and dementia	84	84