ABSTRACT Objective To determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms among elderly and correlate the agreement between the screening methods used. Methods A cross-section study of 137 elderly attending the Programa Vivendo a Terceira Idade [Living for the Elderly Program]. Depressive symptoms were screened by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale, by Yesavage. Cohen´s kappa analyzed the degree of agreement of these scales. Results The prevalence of depressive symptoms screened by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 was 62.8% and, by the Geriatric Depression Scale, 52.6%. The Spearman correlation between the results of scales obtained rho=0.387, p<0.000. The Kappa reliability coefficient was 0.41 and significance level of p<0.001. The screening methods showed sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 44%. Conclusion Both scales showed moderate agreement and were useful for detecting a relevant prevalence of the target outcome of depression among the elderly.