Background. Depression and cognitive impairment are two common mental and public health problems especially among elderly. In this study, we determined the prevalence of these problems and their associations with sociodemographic factors among hospitalized elderly in Egypt. To achieve this, 200 elderly medical inpatients were included in this cross-sectional study. Methods. Comprehensive geriatric assessment was done for every participant. Sociodemographic variables were assessed by interviews with patients and their family members. Depressive symptoms were screened for by the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and the presence of depressive symptoms was defined as a GDS score of ≥6. Cognitive impairment was assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) Scale, and cognitive impairment was defined as a MMSE score of ≤23 out of a total score of 30. Results. The prevalence of both depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment was 72% and 30%, respectively. Significant associations were noticed between each of depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment, and low income and advancing age ( ), respectively. Other associations were insignificant. Conclusions. The findings of this study may be an alarm for health authorities and staffs involved in elderly care to increase their awareness of social and mental health problems among the elderly. 1. Introduction The aging of the world’s population is a global phenomenon with extensive economic and social consequences [1], and the poor understanding of elderly life under changing economic and social norms has led to a weak care and support of them [2]. The rapid increase in the elderly population has engendered public concern about issues associated, such as successful aging and social factors [3]. Factors that affect social engagement in the elderly are various, including physical function, mental function, and socioeconomic issues [4]. Despite growing concern with the elderly population, little attention has focused on their mental health [5]. Depression and cognitive impairment (CI) are two common mental health problems among elderly [6]. Detecting these two health problems in medical inpatients is important as they are associated with limitations in physical and social functioning [7–9]. Also, the recognition of depression and CI is of importance because they may respond to treatment, thereby reducing some of the clinical complications in management of elderly [10]. However, these two conditions are often underdiagnosed in medical settings or simply dismissed as inevitable consequences of aging
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