In this thesis, we consider a system which is subjected to a continuous degradation. This system is assumed to be unsafely when the degradation level exceeds a certain threshold that has to be fixed a priori. We look first at the first hitting time of a deterministic or random threshold for an inhomogeneous gamma process. A new approach is then proposed to describe the degradation of a system. It is assumed that degradation results from the sum of a gamma process and Brownian motion (independent of the gamma process). Since the degradation of the system is also influenced by the environment, it is interesting to consider a model incorporating covariates. Based on the first model we assume that the explanatory variables act only on the gamma...