OBJECTIVE： To provide reference for rational drug use in elderly patients with depression. METHODS： A total of 96 elderly outpatients and inpatients with depression were selected from 39 mental health institutions of Hebei province during Jul. 2nd to 9th， 2012. The drug use were surveyed by using self-made questionnaires on the basis of prescriptions/medical orders. The results of investigation were analyzed statistically. RESULTS： In this study， 96 questionnaires were distributed and all were collected with effective recovery rate of 100％. Among 96 respondents， 95 elderly patients used a new type of antidepressants， mainly by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors （SSRIs），accounting for 75.0％ of the total. The top 5 drugs in the list of use frequency were sertraline （23 cases， 24.0％，daily dose： 25-200 mg），paroxetine （22 cases， 22.9％，daily dose： 20-60 mg），escitalopram （20 cases， 20.8％，daily dose：5-40 mg），venlafaxine （13 cases， 13.5％， daily dose： 75-300 mg），mirtazapine （12 cases， 12.5％，daily dose：8-30 mg）. Among all respondents， 22 patients （22.9％） were treated with mono-antidepressant and the other 74 patients （77.1％） were treated with drug combination therapy among which 47 cases were treated with two antidepressant drugs，22 were treated with three drugs，4 were treated with four drugs and 1 was treated with five drugs. 6 cases combined with mood stabilizers， 21 cases with antipsychotic， 50 cases with benzodiazepine （6 of them combined with two benzodiazepine）， 2 cases with other hypnotic drugs， 14 cases with anxiolytic drugs and 2 cases with anticholinergic drugs. CONCLUSIONS： The drug use of elderly patients with depression in mental health institutions of Hebei province basically in line with current trends. However， there are still the phenomenon of irrational drug use as drug dose meets or exceeds the prescribed maximum dose； many varieties are used in combination therapy； route of administration is improper.