Sunshine Sentinel

There were 144 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending July 31, a 10.8 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending July 31, there were 5,291 deaths in the state. 18.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 16.5 percent were from cancer and 32.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 6.9 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 2021-07-31	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24
Heart disease	964	952
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	880	468
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	873	945
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	828	418
Cerebrovascular diseases	308	303
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	209	227
Diabetes mellitus	165	147
Alzheimer's disease	144	130
Influenza and pneumonia	67	55
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	58	69

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-07-31	Number of Deaths 2021-07-24
Alzheimer disease and dementia	367	373