Background: Depression remains an important health problem among older adults. Disorders in older age result from the accumulation of various factors, chief among them somatic diseases, stressful life events, social isolation, unfavorable social attitudes towards older people, declined cognitive function, malnutrition, polypharmacy. Depression may be associated with the deterioration of physical fitness, whose chief indicator is hand grip strength (HGS). The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between depression and HGS among older populations using the available literature. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science and Science Direct databases were searched. The inclusion criteria were as follows: written in English and published after 2009, subject age: ³60 years, HGS measured using a hand dynamometer, assessment of the depressive symptoms using a validated tool. The following articles were excluded: studies conducted among institutionalized subjects and/or populations with a specific disease. Results: The total combined effect of 33 results presented in 16 studies included in the meta-analysis, converted to the correlation coefficient, was OEr =-.148(SE = .030, 95%CI:-.206 – -.091), indicating a weak, negative correlation between HGS and depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The review of the literature and the meta-analysis demonstrated a relationship between low muscle strength measured with the HGS test and intensified depressive symptoms in older populations. Bearing in mind that depression is often unrecognized or underdiagnosed among older patients, lowered muscle strength in older subjects, should be an important sign for physicians and physiotherapists and an incentive to screen them for depression.