OBJECTIVE: To verify the prevalence of depressive symptoms of an elder population dwelling in a community in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and evaluate the association of them with biopsychosocial aspects and functional capacity. METHODS: Transversal, observational, and population-based study. All of the elders living in the coverage area of a Family Health Team, and the interviews were made in their dwellings. An adaptation of the Brazil Old Age Schedule (BOAS) questionnaire was used to collect the biopsychosocial data. The abbreviated Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) was used to evaluate depressive symptoms. The Katz index was used to evaluate the basic activities of daily living (BADL); the Pfeffer index to evaluate instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). The associations were verified by submitting data to bivariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was of 20.9%. Depressive symptoms were significative associated with difficulty to sleep (PR = 2.04; p = 0.002) and dependence for IADL (PR = 3.22; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: There is a high prevalence of depressive symptoms among elders in the community, being more frequent among elders with difficulty to sleep and functional dependence for IADL.
Primary health care; aged; depression; activities of daily living
