Maryland State Wire

There were 31 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Maryland during the week ending November 20, a 63.2 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending November 20, there were 991 deaths in the state. 19.7 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.5 percent were from cancer and 12 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 9.8 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 2021-11-20	Number of Deaths 2021-11-13
Heart disease	195	204
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	183	203
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	63	77
Cerebrovascular diseases	60	62
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	56	65
Diabetes mellitus	32	35
Alzheimer's disease	31	19
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	26	33
Influenza and pneumonia	11	15
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	11	10

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-11-20	Number of Deaths 2021-11-13
Alzheimer disease and dementia	97	108