Introduction and purpose: Increasing elderly population and problems of elderly, especially mental health status require special attention .The purpose of this study was to assess and compare mental health status and life satisfaction in retired elderly of the JundiShapur University of medical sciences and Shahid Chamran University in Ahvaz.

Materials and methods: In this analytic descriptive study, life satisfaction and mental health status of a randomized sample including 210 retired elderly  of the JundiShapur university of medical sciences and Shahid Chamran University in ahvaz was investigated using GHQ-28, LSI-Z questionnaires in 2013. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient as well as the Chi-squared test by SPSS Software edition 20.

Findings: The results of this study showed that the mean of age was 66.6 (SD=7.2), 87.1% of the elderly were male, 87.6% were married and 99% lived with their family. According to the results, 29% of elderly were suspicious for mental disorders with social dysfunction ranked as the highest disorder at 24.8%. Only 15.2% of elderly were highly satisfied with their life. The results of the correlation analysis showed that mental health was significantly correlated with life satisfaction, education, pension levels and exercise (P<0.05).

Conclusions: Due to the correlation between mental health status and demographic variables such as education, pension levels, exercise as well as life satisfaction, it is essential to develop and promote health policies targeted at mental-health care needs of elderly.