[The prevalence of depressive symptomatology in the german elderly population and the impact of methodical aspects on the identified prevalence].

Objectives: The issue of whether depression increases or decreases with age remains unclear. Methodical aspects play an important role in the research on depression in the elderly.
Methods: In a representative survey of the German general population aged 50 years and older (n = 1.156) depressive symptomatology was assessed using the CES-D and the PHQ-2, generalized anxiety (GA) was assessed using the GAD-7.
Results: According the CES-D 15.9 % and according to the PHQ-2 9.6 % of the population under study are classified as depressed. Prevalence rates increase with increasing age, but only few age groups show significant differences. The CES-D reveals higher prevalence rates than the PHQ-2. Nevertheless depending on the age group 3.6-7.8 % of the sample exclusively identified by the PHQ-2, and 9.0-14.9 % of the sample are exclusively identified by the CES-D. 4.8 (50-59 yrs.) to 10.3 % (80+ yrs.) report a moderate symptomatology of GA. GA is highly comorbid with depressive symptomatology.
Conclusions: The prevalence rates in our study are consistent with previous findings of other studies. Moreover our study underpins the importance of methodical aspects for the prevalence rates identified.