The prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) in the elderly is estimated at 1% to 3%. Recognition of depression is complex because of patients that often deny depression as a psychological dimension, pre-senting somatic complaints, anxiety or cognitive im-pairments (Mulsant and Ganguli, 1999; Wohlreich et al., 2004).On the other hand, treating elderly patients presents more difficulty because of greater sensitivity to drugs and their side effects, higher rates of polypharmacy and variation in the pharmacokinetic parameters (Linjakumpu et al., 2002).Differences in tolerability or efficacy may be attributable to age-related physiological changes in the