Sunshine Sentinel

There were 214 deaths with cerebrovascular disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending Feb. 19, a 26 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending Feb. 19, there were 3,467 deaths in the state. 20.3 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 17.6 percent were from cancer and 28.7 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.9 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 2022-02-19	Number of Deaths 2022-02-12
Heart disease	703	780
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	610	735
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	547	768
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	449	632
Cerebrovascular diseases	214	289
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	157	194
Diabetes mellitus	110	108
Alzheimer's disease	85	113
Influenza and pneumonia	44	46
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	37	56

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2022-02-19	Number of Deaths 2022-02-12
Alzheimer disease and dementia	307	338