Maryland State Wire

There were 82 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in Maryland during the week ending September 4, a 41.4 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 4, there were 1,103 deaths in the state. 21.8 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.9 percent were from cancer and 15.5 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.4 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	241	206
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	220	187
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	89	65
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	82	58
Cerebrovascular diseases	66	62
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	41	38
Diabetes mellitus	33	24
Alzheimer's disease	26	16
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	13
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	12

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Alzheimer disease and dementia	93	75