Abstract: Objective:To study the prevalence status of chronic diseases in the elderly of Muslim and Han population in the community,and to discuss the association of chronic diseases with elderly depression.Methods:Five ageing communities in Yinchuan and Wuzhong were selected by typical sampling.People over the age of 55 were investigated by the geriatric depression scale and a selfmade questionnaire; the survey was conducted one-to-one by unified training investigators.The rate of depression,sort of diseases,score of depression and the rate of twelve chronic diseases were included in the survey.Results:The overall depression rate of the elderly in the community was 32.85% including mild depression(26.43%) and moderately severe depression(6.42%); the detection rates were 35.73% and 31.42% for the Muslim and Han population respectively; the difference was not statistically significant(P 0.05).The overall rate of chronic diseases was 77.52%; the rate of cerebrovascular diseases,arthritis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease had significant difference between the Muslim population and Han people(P 0.05 to P 0.01)).The incidence of coronary heart diseases,cerebrovascular diseases,arthritis and other diseases was significantly correlated with the occurrence of depressive symptoms (P 0.05 to P 0.01); the rest chronic diseases had no influence on the incidence of depression symptoms (P 0.05).The depression score was positively correlated with the number of diseases one had(P 0.01).Logistic regression showed that besides cerebral embolism,other cerebrovascular diseases,coronary heart diseases and other chronic diseases were also associated with elderly depression(P 0.05 to P 0.01).Conclusions:It is necessary to give attention to the old people with chronic diseases in the community.Knowledge about the prevention of chronic diseases should be populated and physical and mental care strengthened at the same time.