Background:

elderly are vulnerable of suffering from depressive symptoms. Its early detection and timely treatment is important. One of the most widely used instruments in the medical literature for the evaluation of depressive symptoms is the Zung and Conde self-scale.

Objective:

to determine the diagnostic capacity of the Zung and Conde self-scale for depressive symptoms in a Cuban geriatric population.

Methods:

from the quantitative approach, a descriptive study was carried out, with a cross-sectional design, between May 2019 and March 2020. The universe was made up of 12,223 elderly people from the Holguín municipality. 100 elderly were selected through probability sampling. Socio-demographic variables, cognitive functioning, depressive symptoms, and diagnostic capacity for depressive symptoms of the Zung and Conde self-scale were considered as variables. The semi-structured interview, the Zung and Conde depression self-scale, the Folstein Mini-Examination of Mental State (M.M.S.E), the Katz index and the Lawton scale were used. The results were processed in the EPIDAT 3.1 and MedCalc statistical packages.

Results:

in general, the instrument showed moderate sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of depressive symptoms. The cut-off point with the largest area under the curve was ≥41.

Conclusions:

the Zung and Conde depression self-scale showed a good diagnostic capacity for the possible suffering of depressive symptoms in the Cuban geriatric population. The cut-off point for a better sensitivity-specificity relationship was from 41.

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