OBJECTIVE: To analyze the influence of socio-demographic factors, physical health, functional status and cognitive function on depressive symptomatology of the elderly from Santa Cruz, Rio Grande do Norte. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a sample constituted by 310 elderly above 60 old years who live in an urban zone of the town in which the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) was applied. The statistical analysis was carried out with significance level p = 0.005, and the respective odds ratio (OR) was calculated in the binary logistic regression. RESULTS: A prevalence of 25.5% of subjects considered cases of depression was found, and after a multivariate analysis significant association with age over 75 years (p = 0.046), illiteracy (p = 0.037), poor health perception (p < 0.001) and dependency for instrumental activities of daily living (p = 0.001) was verified. CONCLUSIONS: The variables age above 75 years, illiteracy, bad health perception and being dependent in basic activities of daily living were independently associated with the presence of depressive symptoms in this population. The authors suggest that the identification of factors that influence the onset of depressive general situations in the elderly is a fundamental step to plan actions to reduce the effects of this condition on these people's living quality.
elderly; depression; aging
