Depression has a ubiquitous influence affecting all ages and both sexes, earning its place as the second most prominent disease in the world as well as one of the leading causes of suffering for older adults. Due to the frequent occurrence of somatic symptoms concealing the disease, depression is often underdiagnosed and undertreated.
Depressive symptoms are defined as sadness, melancholy, or a feeling of hopelessness and include feelings of sadness that are accompanied by altered mood and somatic symptoms that are not sufficient in severity to lead to a diagnosis of clinical depression. The prevalence of DS in community-dwelling elderly adults is 10.4–39.3%. DS decreases the quality of life and increases the risk of suicide leading to a higher mortality rate.