Sunshine Sentinel

There were 496 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Florida during the week ending May 21, 2022, a 17.9% decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending May 21, 2022, there were 2,505 deaths in the state. 19.8% of deaths were caused by heart disease, 21.9% were from cancer and 4.1% 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	Deaths in Week Ending May 21, 2022	Deaths in Week Ending May 14, 2022
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	549	641
Heart disease	496	604
Cerebrovascular diseases	197	226
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	141	167
Alzheimer's disease	86	84
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	65	70
Diabetes mellitus	64	85
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	38	35
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	37	47
Influenza and pneumonia	34	34