We developed a program to prevent depression using physical exercise for persons with a tendency toward minor depressive symptoms, for use among community-dwelling elderly. This study examined the effect of this program on depression symptoms. One thousand three hundred and twenty four people that underwent a medical checkup responded to a questionnaire regarding basic life function. One hundred and twenty three subjects met the inclusion criteria for this study. We have recommended that these subjects participate in the mental health seminar. Finally, 37 people who had participated in the seminar became the baseline subjects. These subjects were assigned to the intervention（physical exercise）group or the control group（allocation of regional: non-randomized controlled trial）. According to the temperature-raising hypothesis and characteristics of the subject（elderly, safe exercises, burden of performing physical exercise）, the exercise program consisted of a low intensity and high frequency regimen. The intervention period was 3 months. The health promotion seminar was held every two weeks（100 minutes per seminar）. The subjects were encouraged to perform physical exercise at home everyday. The control group was instructed to continue their normal daily routines for the duration of the observation period. Mental health was examined using the short version of Geriatric Depression Scale（GDS）and Mental Component Summary（MCS）in SF-36v2. Physical health was examined using the functional fitness test（produced by Physical Fitness Research Institute, Meiji Yasuda Life Foundation of Health and Welfare）and Physical Component Summary（PCS）in SF-36v2.
The results were as follows;
1） The rate of compliance with this program was 81.8％. The average attendance rate at the seminars was 64.4±8.3％ and the compliance rate at the seminars was 63.6％.
2） Performance rate of each physical exercise was Shoulder rotation 63.7±37.2％（mean±SD）, Knee extension （Right）62.4 ± 36.4％ , Knee extension（Left）62.1±36.4％ , Hip flexion（Right）59.6±36.1％ , Hip flexion （Left）60.8 ± 36.2％ , Calf raise 61.8±37.6％ , Sit-up 54.8±35.9％ , Stepping 54.7±35.5％. The total average physical exercise compliance rate was 60.0±35.4％.
3） Changes in GDS score and MCS score（SF-36）during the 3-month period did not significantly differ between the intervention and control groups for either males or females. In the female intervention subgroup with high depressive tendency at baseline, MCS was 49.2±12.3 points before intervention and 55.6±7.9 points after the intervention period. In the female control subgroup with high depressive tendency at baseline, MCS was 47.6 ± 6.6 points before the observation period and 48.1±4.3 points after the observation period. Changes in MCS score during the 3-month period showed a significant difference between the female intervention and female control groups with a high depressive tendency at baseline（P<0.05）.
4） Changes in PCS score（SF-36）during the 3-month period were shown no significant defference between intervention and control group in both males and female.
These results suggested that this intervention program was not effective for improving depression in subjects with depressive state; however, it might be effective for improving depression- related mental health.
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