Sunshine Sentinel

There were 981 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending August 21, a 2.1 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending August 21, there were 7,107 deaths in the state. 13.8 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 12.3 percent were from cancer and 70.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 5.5 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 2021-08-21	Number of Deaths 2021-08-14
Heart disease	981	1,002
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	872	956
Cerebrovascular diseases	330	282
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	262	200
Diabetes mellitus	214	200
Alzheimer's disease	147	127
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	73	63
Influenza and pneumonia	64	63
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	2,440	1,991
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	2,583	2,119

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-08-21	Number of Deaths 2021-08-14
Alzheimer disease and dementia	394	354