Abstract:Objective To understand the incidence of depression in elderly of community, and to analyze the relationship between the incidence of depression and social life, self-esteem, social support, life satisfaction of the elderly in the community. Methods By stratified random cluster sampling method, 496 elderly people aged 60 or older in two communities of Nanning were investigated and analyzed by using social life questionnaire, simple version of elderly depression scale, self-esteem scale, social support scale and life satisfaction index A scale. Results The depression score of the elderly in the community was 2 to 12 points, with an average score of (4.89 ± 1.69). The incidence of depression was 28.8%. There were significant differences in depression among chronic diseases, hobbies and different economic conditions (P < 0.05). The levels of total social support, objective support, subjective support, self-esteem and life satisfaction in the negative group were higher than those in the positive group. The total scores of social support, subjective support, objective support and life satisfaction were negatively correlated with depression (r = -0.207, - 0.232, - 0.125 and -0.126, P = 0.000, 0.000, 0.005 and 0.005). Logistic regression analysis showed that economic status [Ol ^ R=1.304 (95% CI: 1.003, 1.681)], chronic disease [Ol ^ R =2.072 (95% CI: 1.272, 3.384)], objective support [Ol ^ R=0.873 (95% CI: 0.764, 0.993)] and self-esteem [Ol ^ R=0.831 (95% CI: 0.743, 0.952)] were the influential factors of depression. Conclusion The incidence of depression in elderly of community is nearly 1/3, and the incidence of depression is higher among the elderly with no interests, chronic diseases, poor economic status, lack of social support, low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.