Sunshine Sentinel

There were 198 deaths with diabetes mellitus listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending August 14, a 12.5 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 14, there were 6,579 deaths in the state. 15.1 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 14.5 percent were from cancer and 62.1 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 5.4 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 2021-08-14	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07
Heart disease	996	1,061
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	954	853
Cerebrovascular diseases	282	302
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	199	257
Diabetes mellitus	198	176
Alzheimer's disease	127	145
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	63	67
Influenza and pneumonia	62	57
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	2,108	1,479
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	1,980	1,365

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-14	Number of Deaths 2021-08-07
Alzheimer disease and dementia	354	407