Sunshine Sentinel

There were 74 deaths with influenza and pneumonia listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending September 11, a 32.1 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending September 11, there were 6,763 deaths in the state. 14.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 13.5 percent were from cancer and 66.9 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 5.6 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 2021-09-11	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04
Heart disease	969	1,026
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	910	901
Cerebrovascular diseases	320	314
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	209	217
Diabetes mellitus	183	183
Alzheimer's disease	135	128
Influenza and pneumonia	74	56
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	65	69
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	2,185	2,600
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	2,337	2,773

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-09-11	Number of Deaths 2021-09-04
Alzheimer disease and dementia	382	371