Empire State Today

There were 432 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in New York state during the week ending September 4, a 12.2 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 4, there were 2,007 deaths in the state. 21.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.3 percent were from cancer and 15.5 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 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 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Heart disease	432	492
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	387	398
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	163	141
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	149	127
Cerebrovascular diseases	78	84
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	69	79
Diabetes mellitus	50	57
Alzheimer's disease	36	46
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	35	26
Influenza and pneumonia	24	40

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04	Number of Deaths 2021-08-28
Alzheimer disease and dementia	160	157