Anxiety Disorders in Old Age: Psychiatric Comorbidities, Quality of Life, and Prevalence According to Age, Gender, and Country

•The prevalence rate of anxiety disorders is higher in elderly, when assessed with a specific age-associated interview, in contrast to previously used adult age interviews.•The chance to have an anxiety disorder drops by 40% after the age of 75 years, and by 47% after the age of 80 years.•Women show at least twice as my anxiety disorders than men, independently of their age.•The anxiety-depression association is limited to panic disorder and specific phobia in old age, contrary to other anxiety disorders.•We found no evidence of an association between anxiety disorder and alcohol abuse/dependency in old age.