ABSTRACT

The present article is developed in accordance with the dynamic of the current Brazilian
demographic transition, whose graphic disposes a relevant rise in the percentage of elderly citizens.
Thus, the referred change carries within itself a variable degree of mood disorders, as Depression,
which are common in this stage of life. Thereby , an alert from the World Health Organization
reinforces that their impact will be biggest in nations with lowest or medium revenues, what shows
to be related to the occurrences of misdiagnosis regarding basic healthcare services (in Brazil,
Atenção Básica de Serviço - ABS). Then, the objective of this article was to analyze the prevalence of
Clinical Depression symptoms in elderly assisted by ABS. So, the current article was conducted
within an exploratory-descriptive study, developed with 30 elderly people, all of them from the
countryside of Ipu City, in the state of Ceará, during the time between November and December of
2018. The data used were collected by tracking the information available upon the register of health
community agents, seizing sociodemographic data as well, in addition to the application of the
questionary “Geriatric Depression Scale”, composited by 15 items (EDG-15), which was applied
during domicile visitation mediated by the health searchers. Thus, for the analysis was used a simple
methodology of descriptive statistics, in Excel 2010, besides SPSS. All the guidelines regarding
researches with human beings, disposed in the Resolution 466/12 from the Brazilian National Health
Council, were followed in this study. Respecting the prevalence of Clinical Depression symptoms in
the original sample, it was shown that 30% of them suffers from Severe Depression, with a
predominantly pattern (57%) of female aged 60 to 69, with a monthly income of one to three
minimum wages, which 80% of them declaring housekeep financial issues. The P-Value was settled
as <0.05, for the age on the referred sample. Therefore, it’s understood the actual needs for training
the nursing team from ABS in order to ensure a attentive approach for the elderly, in addition to the
applicability of new technologies in healthcare, as the use of the EDG-15 scale in nursing care, case
studies formulation or prioritizing projects which intends the maintenance of social and physical
skills, in favor of a positive impact in their life quality and mental health, as their represent a new
social demographic perspective for Brazil. Only the empowerment of those social actors can ensure
theirselves this enjoyment of live.

Keywords: Clinical Depression, Gerontology, Basic Healthcare.