Sunshine Sentinel

There were 192 deaths with chronic lower respiratory disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending Jan. 1, a 5.5 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Jan. 1, there were 3,862 deaths in the state. 20.8 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 20.7 percent were from cancer and 10.3 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.1 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 2022-01-01	Number of Deaths 2021-12-25
Heart disease	803	860
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	800	820
Cerebrovascular diseases	243	300
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	216	161
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	192	182
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	183	132
Diabetes mellitus	113	118
Alzheimer's disease	95	110
Influenza and pneumonia	63	42
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	50	66

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2022-01-01	Number of Deaths 2021-12-25
Alzheimer disease and dementia	314	330