Empire State Today

There were 36 deaths with influenza and pneumonia listed as the underlying cause reported in New York state during the week ending October 23, a 20 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 23, there were 2,199 deaths in the state. 20.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.9 percent were from cancer and 20.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.7 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 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Heart disease	450	487
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	394	398
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	237	222
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	219	203
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	87	84
Cerebrovascular diseases	86	74
Diabetes mellitus	50	65
Alzheimer's disease	39	44
Influenza and pneumonia	36	45
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	35	40

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16
Alzheimer disease and dementia	170	186