Objective To analyze depressive symptoms and its relationship with cognitive function of elderly patients in mental hospital.Methods To investigate 221 cases of elderly patients aged more than 60 years old selected from Yiwu third people's hospital and were screened by Chinese version of center of epidemiological survey depression scale (CES-D) and Chinese version of mini-mental states examination (MMSE).Results (1)153 cases (69.2%) of elderly patients suffer from definite depression symptoms.(2) The depressive symptoms of elderly patients,with different age,sex,educational level,have no significant difference.(3)The depressive symptoms have relationship with their cognitive function impairment on elder patients.Conclusion Routine screening for depressive symptoms and cognitive function is necessary for elderly patient with depressive or cognitive function impairment.