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. This version was uploaded in July 2018 after peer-review in the journal Royal Society Open Science. Compared to earlier version, it incorporates some minor error correction to the dataset, and reflects the revised analyses we performed after peer review. 

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

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.csv' is the dataset analysed in the paper. Compared to 'unprocessed data.csv', it excludes: associations from studies of non-human animals; duplicate associations; a small number of associations from studies of medical treatments; and associations considered subparts or subscales of other associations. These exclusions are outlined in Methods section of the paper. In addition, in the processed data file, all correlations are aligned in direction so as to make them comparable (variable 'ValencedEffect'); and all associations are assigned to broad and fine categories.The script 'unprocessed to processed.r' makes the processed data file from the unprocessed one, or you can simply work from the processed one directly. 

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

This version of the archive (July 17 2018) contains one small correction in the data files compared to all earlier versions.