Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Oct 18.
Published in final edited form as: Brain Behav Immun. 2018 Jun 19;73:85–114. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2018.06.016

Table 3.

Summary recommendations for future replication efforts.

Sample Collection Procedures
  Sample collected after resting period of 20–45 min with participant in supine position
  Sample collected following overnight fast
  Rule out acute infection via collection of body temperature and vital signs*
Assaying Procedures
  Run all assays in duplicate with coefficients of variation under 10%
  Report inter- and intra-assay coefficients
  Report assay detection and sensitivity limits
Data Cleaning and Statistical Methods
  Report proportion of non-detectable values and patterns of missingness, and number of high out-of-range CRP values, and include all available data (no listwise deletion)
  Visualize CRP values to determine outliers
  Winsorization for non-detectable and high out-of-range values (three standard deviations)
  Correct and transparent reporting of handling of non-normal data, including reporting of kurtosis and skewness statistics
  Report results from continuous analyses
Control variables to assess and statistically adjust (as necessary)
Demographic Variables
   Age
   Sex
   Race/ethnicity
Health Variables
   Body mass index, waist circumference, or waist-to-hip ratio
   Chronic medical conditions or health markers (e.g., cholesterol, triglycerides)*
Substance Variables
   Nicotine use (current and former)*
   Alcohol use (frequency and amount)*
   Caffeine use*
Medication Variables
   Antidepressant use (frequency, type & dose)
   NSAID use (frequency and dose)*
   Statin/anti-hypertensive use (frequency and dose)
Psychosocial Variables
   SES and/or education
Additional variables to consider (included in quality score)
   Physical activity/exercise
   Sleep deprivation
*

Indicates that it is appropriate for the study to exclude based on this variable or to exclude based on acute use.