Association between sociodemographic characteristics and depressive symptoms in hospitalized elderly

Objective:  to describe the sociodemographic characteristics associated with depressive symptoms in hospitalized elderly.  Methods:  cross-sectional study carried out in a public teaching hospital. The sample was composed of 96 individuals aged ≥60 years, hospitalized in a clinical and surgical unit. The data collection was performed through a semi-structured interview with the instrument Geriatric Depression Scale. The variables were described through frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. The Fisher’s exact test was used to assess the association with depressive symptoms.  Results:  a total of 45.8% of the elderly presented mild to moderate depressive symptoms and 1.0% had severe symptoms. There was a predominance of women, between 60 and 79 years old, living with a partner, with low level of education (one to seven years of schooling), Catholics, retirees or pensioners, and with a family income of up to three minimum wages.  Conclusion:  the labor situation presented a statistically significant association with depressive symptoms in the hospitalized elderly.