Empire State Today

There were 384 deaths with cancer listed as the underlying cause reported in New York state during the week ending Dec. 18, a 7 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Dec. 18, there were 2,366 deaths in the state. 20.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.2 percent were from cancer and 32.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.9 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 2021-12-18	Number of Deaths 2021-12-11
Heart disease	485	537
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	404	413
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	384	413
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	370	367
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	96	81
Cerebrovascular diseases	84	88
Diabetes mellitus	55	75
Influenza and pneumonia	48	56
Alzheimer's disease	43	36
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	29	40

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-18	Number of Deaths 2021-12-11
Alzheimer disease and dementia	186	200