Abstract： Objective To explore preoperative incidence, influencing factors of depression and nursing for the inpatients in the department of orthopedics. Methods A total of 107 cases in the department of orthopedics from March to May in 2010 were selected, the patients with unconsciousness and mental illness were ruled out, self-rating depression Scale (SDS] was used to assess the state of patients with depression. Results The incidence of depression was 26. 17%, univariate analysis showed: gender, education level and disease type were the risk factors of depression, multivariate analysis showed: gender, disease type, cure confidence and the worry of dragging the family were the risk factors of depression. Conclusions The inpatients in the department of orthopaedics has the depression psychology obviously.Nursing staffs should take the corresponding nursing strategy according to the factors of depression occurrence.