Sunshine Sentinel

There were 268 deaths with cerebrovascular disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending Dec. 25, a 0.7 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Dec. 25, there were 3,511 deaths in the state. 21.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.4 percent were from cancer and 6.8 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8 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 2021-12-25	Number of Deaths 2021-12-18
Heart disease	745	835
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	715	877
Cerebrovascular diseases	268	270
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	162	195
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	129	138
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	110	112
Diabetes mellitus	97	129
Alzheimer's disease	96	114
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	55	76
Influenza and pneumonia	32	54

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-25	Number of Deaths 2021-12-18
Alzheimer disease and dementia	282	356