[Treatment of depression in the elderly]

Depression is the most common mental health problem of later life. There is effective treatments for depression in primary care. Recommendation based on current evidence are: in primary care treatment there is no evidence that one class of antidepressant is anymore effective than others; although newer antidepressants are not more effective than older ones, they are better tolerated in healthy older people and in patients with medical co-morbidity and are safer especially in overdose. Lower dose antidepressant treatment is not recommended for older depressed patients.