Maryland State Wire

There were 217 deaths with cancer listed as the underlying cause reported in Maryland during the week ending October 9, a 2.8 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 9, there were 1,155 deaths in the state. 20.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.8 percent were from cancer and 19.4 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.4 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 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Heart disease	235	210
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	217	211
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	119	91
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	105	83
Cerebrovascular diseases	58	72
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	48	45
Diabetes mellitus	33	39
Alzheimer's disease	29	28
Influenza and pneumonia	11	17
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	11	10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09	Number of Deaths 2021-10-02
Alzheimer disease and dementia	86	86