Empire State Today

There were 61 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in New York state during the week ending Feb. 26, a 3.2 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Feb. 26, there were 1,584 deaths in the state. 23.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.5 percent were from cancer and 16.4 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 2022-02-26	Number of Deaths 2022-02-19
Heart disease	372	439
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	293	309
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	145	255
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	115	196
Cerebrovascular diseases	64	57
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	61	63
Alzheimer's disease	42	38
Diabetes mellitus	28	54
Influenza and pneumonia	25	36
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	20	28

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2022-02-26	Number of Deaths 2022-02-19
Alzheimer disease and dementia	156	181