ABSTRACT
Objectives: To compare the sociodemographic and economic profile, functional capacity, number of self-referred morbidities and level of physical activity among the elderly with and without indicative of depression. Methods: Cross-sectional and analytical study, with 980 elderly persons (250 with and 730 without indicative of depression) residing in the city of Uberaba, in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, between August 2012 and May 2013. We used the BOMFAQ Questionnaire, GDS 15, Katz Index, Lawton and Brody Scale and IPAQ. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test (p < 0.05) were used, in the program SPSS, version 17.0. Results: In the comparison between the groups, there were significant differences regarding the female gender (p = 0.009), education (p = 0.008), individual income (p < 0.001), activities of daily living (p < 0.001), instrumental activities of daily living (p < 0.001) and number of morbidities (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The comparison of the existence or not of depressive symptoms among the elderly enables a more effective planning of public policies aimed at health promotion and adequate treatment in cases of disease already present and the subsidization of preventive strategies, using data such as risk factors and associated factors and ways to research depression.