Empire State Today

There were 493 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in New York state during the week ending Oct. 1, 2022, a 7.9% increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Oct. 1, 2022, there were 2,040 deaths in the state. 24.2% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.9% were from cancer and 8.4% were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.8% 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	Deaths in Week Ending Oct. 1, 2022	Deaths in Week Ending Sept. 24, 2022
Heart disease	493	457
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	386	401
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	105	86
Cerebrovascular diseases	87	61
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	81	67
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	66	60
Diabetes mellitus	60	41
Alzheimer's disease	46	29
Influenza and pneumonia	41	44
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	38	25

Cause of Death	Deaths in Week Ending Oct. 1, 2022	Deaths in Week Ending Sept. 24, 2022
Alzheimer disease and dementia	180	169