Minnesota State Wire

There were 53 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Minnesota during the week ending Jan. 15, a 60.6 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Jan. 15, there were 914 deaths in the state. 17.1 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.6 percent were from cancer and 30.1 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 12.6 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 2022-01-15	Number of Deaths 2022-01-08
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	188	173
Heart disease	156	180
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	151	212
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	124	187
Alzheimer's disease	53	33
Cerebrovascular diseases	41	49
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	38	51
Diabetes mellitus	27	26
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	19
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	< 10	13

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2022-01-15	Number of Deaths 2022-01-08
Alzheimer disease and dementia	115	95