Garden State Times

There were 117 deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause reported in New Jersey during the week ending September 18, a 4.5 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 18, there were 1,564 deaths in the state. 20.8 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20 percent were from cancer and 15.9 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.5 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 2021-09-18	Number of Deaths 2021-09-11
Heart disease	325	333
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	313	308
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	132	123
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	117	112
Cerebrovascular diseases	72	67
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	46	40
Alzheimer's disease	42	44
Diabetes mellitus	29	32
Influenza and pneumonia	28	25
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	26	29

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-18	Number of Deaths 2021-09-11
Alzheimer disease and dementia	118	119