Depression is a prevalent illness in elderly people. Cognitive deterioration associated to depressive symptoms is frequently considered as Dementia, especially in primary care. The study of the relation between both pathologies is necessary to correct treatment of mental illness in elderly people.

The aim of this study is to investigate whether depressive symptoms are related to certain areas of cognitive decline in elderly people.

The sample included community people older than 65 years (n = 927), mean age 72.9; 55.1% were women and 44,9% men. Instruments used were Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Blessed Dementia Scale (BDS), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), verbal fluency test, clock drawing task, Wechsler digit substitution test and Wechsler similarity test.

Of the sample, 15,2% presented cognitive deterioration in Blessed Dementia Scale, with statistical significance in relation between growing age, female sex and cognitive deterioration (P < 0.005). Twenty-eight percent of the sample present cognitive decline, finding the same relation between sex, age and cognitive condition. Of the sample, 33.5% presented mild depression, 9.1% moderate depression and 1.4% presented severe depression using BDI. Correlations between depression and cognitive tests were analyzed. In demographic factors, social support was significantly correlated with depression but marital status, occupation and education were not correlated.

There is a high prevalence of depressive symptoms and cognitive deterioration in elderly people. High levels of depressive symptoms are associated with cognitive deterioration, especially in comprehension and judgment, delayed recall, verbal memory and visuospacial coordination in elderly people.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.