*Limitations*

The present study does have certain, potential limitations. First, it was a cross-sectional study, based only on a self-reportable survey. Although the applied scales are sensitive tools designed to detect anxiety symptoms, they all focus on subjective symptoms, rather than objective clinical criteria, which poses a risk of false-positive results. Second, the study group was too small to generalise the results to the whole population of Polish older people attending Universities of the Third Age. Third, the study group was overrepresented by women, and therefore the results should be also verified in a larger group of men. However, both the actual rate of University of the Third Age participants and the actual demographic trends in the Polish population distinguish a high rate of women in relation to men. Despite these limitations, the results of this research can be a starting point for further studies addressing anxiety symptoms caused by fear of developing COVID-19 and its sociodemographic determinants amongst participants of Universities of the Third Age. A longitudinal study could provide optimal answers to these questions.
