Data archive for Pepper, Bateson and Nettle, 'Telomeres as integrative markers of exposure to stress and adversity: A systematic review and meta-analysis'

Data archive for the paper 'Telomeres as integrative markers of exposure to stress and adversity: A systematic review and meta-analysis' by Gillian Pepper, Melissa Bateson and Daniel Nettle.

Our protocol and recording guide, which were preregistered on the Open Science Framework in 2016, are also included here.

The data file 'unprocessed data' contains the data as extracted from the literature, with associations shown both as provided in the original papers, and converted to correlation coefficients. The algorithms for converting all the different associations to correlation coefficients are described in the flowchart and implemented in the R script 'effect conversion algorithms.r'.

The data file 'processed data' excludes studies of non-human animals, associations considered subparts or subscales of other associations, and a small number of studies of medical treatments, as outlined in Methods of paper.  In addition, all correlations are aligned in direction so as to make them comparable (variable 'ValencedEffect'); and all associations are assigned to broad and fine categories. This is the dataset analysed in the paper.

The R script 'telomere metanalysis script.r' reproduces the analyses found in the paper.