knowledge, there has been no meta-analysis of risk factors for symptoms of anxiety in older
people, largely due to the lack of relevant studies (Vink et al. 2008).
The aim of this study is to examine the associations between factors from early (birth weight
and childhood social class) and later life [current social class, neuroticism, peak cognitive
ability, fluid intelligence, physical function, disability, body mass index (BMI) and chronic
illness] and depression and anxiety in five cohorts of community-dwelling older people. We
obtain overall effect estimates for each risk factor and examine the consistency of the
associations using meta-analysis.