Prevalence of depressive symptoms and associated factors among institutionalized elderly

Objective: Determining the prevalence of depressive symptoms and associated factors in institutionalized elderly. Methods: Cross-sectional study that included 211 elderly from Brazil and 342 from Portugal, all residing in long-stay institutions. The survey instrument was the Geriatric Depression Scale. Results: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was found among 49.76% of the elderly in Brazil and in 61.40% of the Portuguese seniors. The Brazilian elderly with depressive symptomatology have the single marital status, low number of years of study and gender as main associated factors. Among the Portuguese elderly, the main associated factor was the age over 70 years. Conclusion: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was high and its early recognition may contribute to the quality of life of institutionalized elderly.