prevalence of depression symptoms among the elderly population of southern iran

background: the purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of depression symptoms and the effect of various demographic characteristics on its severity in an elderly population in fars province, southern iran. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted during may and september 2009. a sample of 1461 men and women, aged more than 60 years were selected using a multistage stratified random sampling method. levels of depression symptoms were measured using the geriatric depression scale (gds). data were analyzed using spss software. also, analysis of variance (anova) and correlation analysis were performed to find the correlation between the variables and gds score. results: overall, 1443 people completed the questionnaire. the prevalence of the symptoms mild to moderate depression (gds: 5-10) was 51.1%, while that of severe depression symptoms (gds >10) was 19.7%. there were significant relationships between sex, marital status, educational level, occupation, residential place and the gds scores. conclusion: the prevalence of depression symptoms was high among the elderly in fars province. therefore, if properly trained, primary care teams could help these patients.