Sunshine Sentinel

There were 203 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending October 16, a 3.8 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 16, there were 4,851 deaths in the state. 18.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18 percent were from cancer and 23.9 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.4 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 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Heart disease	888	908
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	871	894
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	616	827
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	544	752
Cerebrovascular diseases	293	294
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	203	211
Diabetes mellitus	135	152
Alzheimer's disease	117	124
Influenza and pneumonia	61	48
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	59	61

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-16	Number of Deaths 2021-10-09
Alzheimer disease and dementia	357	389