Sunshine Sentinel

There were 370 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending Feb. 5, a 42.1 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Feb. 5, there were 2,212 deaths in the state. 16.7 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17 percent were from cancer and 36.8 percent were from COVID-19.

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 2022-02-05	Number of Deaths 2022-01-29
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	434	799
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	381	715
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	377	568
Heart disease	370	639
Cerebrovascular diseases	141	208
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	95	164
Alzheimer's disease	81	106
Diabetes mellitus	70	84
Influenza and pneumonia	29	36
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	27	59