Sunshine Sentinel

There were 211 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending July 10, a 2.3 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 10, there were 4,441 deaths in the state. 19.5 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.2 percent were from cancer and 9.2 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.3 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 2021-07-10	Number of Deaths 2021-07-03
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	897	915
Heart disease	867	865
Cerebrovascular diseases	314	284
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	214	183
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	211	216
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	193	149
Alzheimer's disease	128	127
Diabetes mellitus	127	139
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	65	52
Influenza and pneumonia	54	48

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-10	Number of Deaths 2021-07-03
Alzheimer disease and dementia	368	394