Data and code metadata for "Rapamycin, not metformin, mirrors dietary restriction-driven lifespan extension in vertebrates: a meta-analysis".
- Paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acel.70131
- Data and code: https://zenodo.org/records/15673918
Dietary restriction reliably extends lifespan across a wide range of species, and two drugs — rapamycin and metformin — are widely promoted as pharmacological mimetics of that effect. Whether either actually reproduces the DR response in vertebrates had not been assessed systematically.
This meta-analysis compares lifespan extension under dietary restriction, rapamycin, and metformin across vertebrate studies, drawing on 911 effect sizes. It finds that rapamycin, but not metformin, mirrors the DR-driven extension of lifespan. This repository holds the data dictionary for that synthesis; the full data and code are archived on Zenodo.
Edward R. Ivimey-Cook*@, Zahida Sultanova*@, and Alexei A. Maklakov
*these authors contributed equally @corresponding authors: e.ivimeycook@gmail.com and zahida.sultanova@uea.ac.uk
| File | Contents |
|---|---|
analysis_data.csv |
The meta-analytic dataset (911 effect sizes) |
Analysis_Script.R |
Master analysis script; all other scripts are sourced within this one |
sessionInfo.txt |
R version and packages loaded, with versions |
Scripts live in a Code folder; run Analysis_Script.R, which sources the rest.
analysis_data.csv — all column names are cleaned when loading.
Study identification
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
id |
1:911 unique individual ID |
author list |
List of authors |
title |
Title of paper |
Year |
Year paper was published (extracted from Scopus/WoS) |
Control group
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
m_control |
Control lifespan measure |
n_control |
Sample size for control |
sd_control |
Standard deviation for control (left blank if not available) |
se_control |
Standard error for control (left blank if not available) |
Treatment group
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
m_treatment |
Treatment lifespan measure |
n_treatment |
Sample size for treatment |
sd_treatment |
Standard deviation for treatment (left blank if not available) |
se_treatment |
Standard error for treatment (left blank if not available) |
Measurement details
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
m_Measure |
Median or mean lifespan |
m_raw |
Whether raw data was given to calculate measures |
m_time |
Unit of lifespan measure |
m_Location |
Location of lifespan measure in the paper |
Study characteristics
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
Species |
Species sampled |
Treatment_Type |
Type of treatment used (e.g. fasting, percent reduction, rapamycin) |
Treatment_Overall |
Broad treatment groups (Rapamycin, Metformin, DR) |
Treatment_Name |
Treatment name in paper |
Sex |
Sex studied |
Strain |
The name of any strain used, if appropriate |
Other Variables |
Whether any other variables were tested in the experiment |
Notes |
Additional notes |
mice900_keep |
Whether or not the mice paper passed the 900 day rule |
R version and packages loaded (with versions): see the sessionInfo.txt file.
Ivimey-Cook, E. R., Sultanova, Z., & Maklakov, A. A. (2025). Rapamycin, not metformin, mirrors dietary restriction-driven lifespan extension in vertebrates: a meta-analysis. Aging Cell, 24(9), e70131. https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.70131
A machine-readable CITATION.cff is included, so GitHub's
"Cite this repository" button gives formatted APA and BibTeX.
Edward R. Ivimey-Cook — e.ivimeycook@gmail.com — ORCID 0000-0003-4910-0443
Code is licensed under the MIT License. Data are licensed under CC BY 4.0.