INTRODUCTION: Depression is a health problem that is frequent among elderly people. Most of the time it is difficult to identify in clinical practice. It results in the loss of autonomy, aggravation of a preexistent pathological state and it is also associated with a bigger risk of morbid-mortality, suicide and negligence in self-care. The diagnosis and the treatment are still deficient.
OBJECTIVES: To identify the selected range used, to know epidemiological data in Brazil and risk factors related to elderly people's depression. Method: Explanatory study using bibliography research from books, documents and articles that are related to the theme from the basis MEDLINE, SCIELO, LILACS published from 2006 to 2011.
RESULTS: Depressive syndromes are psychiatric disturbance more prevalent among elderly people with 5% of depression and significant depressive symptoms up to 15%. The prevalence of hospitalized or institutionalized elderly people reaches 22%. The prevalence in literature varies between 6.4 to 59.3% in the community. Among the main risk factors are: female sex, widowhood, low schooling, chronic physical diseases and stressful events of life. The main methods of selection identified for diagnosis have been: the level of geriatric depression, center of epidemiological studies and DSM-IV-TR.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Depression in elderly people is a problem of public health that can't be seen as a manifestation of physiological aging. The use of routine instruments of selection helps the diagnosis in many cases that may be unnoticeable and may influence in these patients quality of life.