Maryland State Wire

There were 190 deaths with cancer listed as the underlying cause reported in Maryland during the week ending October 16, a 12.8 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 16, there were 1,085 deaths in the state. 19.1 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.5 percent were from cancer and 20.4 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 9.7 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 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Heart disease	207	236
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	190	218
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	120	120
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	101	105
Cerebrovascular diseases	50	59
Diabetes mellitus	40	33
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	25	48
Alzheimer's disease	24	29
Influenza and pneumonia	12	11
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	11

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Alzheimer disease and dementia	105	88