FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH AND PREVALENCE OF DEPRESSION IN THE ELDERLY – ANALYSIS OF SCREENING USING THE GERIATRIC DEPRESSION SCALE (GDS-15) THROUGH A LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

The phenomenon of human aging has been discussed in the field of health, largely due to its implications for the health sector, one of which is the issue of depression in the elderly. In this sense, the relevance of screening for depressive symptoms in the elderly is emphasized, with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) being the most widely used tool. The study aims to investigate the prevalence and factors associated with depression in the elderly, using evidence from the national literature, focusing on the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) as a screening method. To this end, a literature review on this topic was conducted using databases such as LILACS, SciELO, BVS, and PubMed. Scientific articles published in Portuguese and dated between 2021 and 2025 were considered. The results indicate that the Geriatric Depression Scale GDS-15 was applied in various contexts, including elderly people in long-term care facilities, elderly people living at home, and depression screenings in heterogeneous population groups, encompassing residents of rural areas as well as elderly people living in areas of social vulnerability. Among the main recommendations present in the studies, it can be said that they not only highlight the relevance of early screening, but also emphasize actions to promote sports, participation in community centers, and prevention of conditions such as frailty and memory lapses, which are connected to depression. There are also situations that highlight the need for more public policies aimed at promoting mental health among the elderly population, with the Family Health Strategy being one of the structuring axes of this process and a theme of some of the productions found in this literature review.