Empire State Today

There were 45 deaths with influenza and pneumonia listed as the underlying cause reported in New York state during the week ending October 16, a 2.3 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 16, there were 2,173 deaths in the state. 22.4 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.3 percent were from cancer and 19.6 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.6 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	486	488
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	398	475
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	222	204
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	203	188
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	84	96
Cerebrovascular diseases	74	107
Diabetes mellitus	65	60
Influenza and pneumonia	45	44
Alzheimer's disease	44	44
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	40	31

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Alzheimer disease and dementia	186	174