I am doing a systematic review and meta-analysis looking at predictors of PTSD symptoms after traumatic brain injury. Some of the studies I have included are analyses of subsets of participants within the same larger prospective cohort study. For example, the papers may explore different potential predictors of PTSD.
I imagine there will be considerable overlap in the participants analysed in each paper, considering that they're coming from the same larger cohort study. However, am I able to still include multiple of these papers given that they're investigating different predictors? Or do I just have to pick the one most comprehensive paper for inclusion? It would seem like a real shame to exclude all papers but one as it would leave out some novel and good-quality findings.
Any advice would be much appreciated please.
As stated above you need to eliminate duplicated data and check if the papers explore the same or different variables (if the later it is fine). Also, it could be a good idea to write in the article not only how many papers were examined but also on how many populations studies included in your meta-analysis were done.
Yes but you have to eliminate the duplicates and make sure you can identify studies from the same centres as they might be reporting the same data.
Worth mentioning that making a single publication (your cohort study together with a systematic review & meta-analysis. Bearing in mind that SRMA is a distinct endeavor in itself, with rationale, methods, results, discussions (with limitations) and conclusions not just pooling of data
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