This study aims to review the pooled prevalence of anxiety disorders among empty-nest elderly in China. Nine studies and 4245 empty-nest elders in China were included in this meta-analysis. A combined effect size with 95 percent confidence intervals was calculated to indicate the magnitude of the effect. The results indicated that the pooled prevalence of anxiety disorders among empty-nest elderly in China was 41.0% (95% confidence interval: 26%-56%). In addition, the different regions in China show different prevalence of anxiety. We speculated that the prevalence varies based on the different methods performed in the empty-nest elderly.
Keywords: China; anxiety disorder; empty-nest elderly; meta-analysis; prevalence.