Roger, this is helpful. Thank you very much. Michael
At 12:33 PM 3/22/2005, you wrote:
At 18:23 22/03/2005, Michael McCulloch wrote:
Metan is a very useful routine for calculating summary effect measures.
However, I am having a problem with balancing text size of study ID
(namevar) with the width of the text columns where event counts are
displayed. Here's the problem:
1. If I set texts to display at full size texts=1, then the text for the
event counts in group 1 overlaps with that of group 2.
2. If I set texts to display at reduced size (texts=0.7), then the event
counts text columns are properly separated, but the study ID text
(namevar) is so small it is unsuitable for publication.
I should add that the # of events is large, four digits, making the
display issue more problematic. Techniques for customizing the graph are
only minimally documented in "help metan."
I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions on how to customize the graph.
Especially helpful would be suggestions on how to increase the width
between the event counts text columns.
I don't have much experience with -metan-. However, if you want the full
power of Stata 8 graphics (including the -ysize()- option), then you might
like to use the -eclplot- package, downloadable from SSC, to create forest
plots. -eclplot- inputs a dataset (or resultsset) with 1 observation per
confidence interval to be displayed, and data on estimates, confidence
limits and (optionally) study sizes, and produces as output a confidence
interval plot (optionally horizontal like a Cochrane forest plot), with
the option of weighting the estimate symbols (or even the confidence limit
caps) by study size. The plot can be customized using the -plot()- option
and other Stata 8 graphics options.
To create the input dataset in the first place, a useful tool might be the
-metaparm- package, also downloadable from SSC. -metaparm- takes, as
input, a dataset with 1 observation per study and data on estimates,
standard errors and (optionally) by-groups, and creates, as output, an
output dataset (or resultsset) with one observation, or one observation
per by-group, and data on estimates, confidence limits and numbers of
subjects for the overall summary parameter. This resultsset can be
-append-ed to the original dataset to produce a dataset ready to input to
-eclplot- to produce the forest plot.
I hope this helps.
Roger
--
Roger Newson
Lecturer in Medical Statistics
Department of Public Health Sciences
Division of Asthma, Allergy and Lung Biology
King's College London
5th Floor, Capital House
42 Weston Street
London SE1 3QD
United Kingdom
Tel: 020 7848 6648 International +44 20 7848 6648
Fax: 020 7848 6620 International +44 20 7848 6620
or 020 7848 6605 International +44 20 7848 6605
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://phs.kcl.ac.uk/rogernewson/
Opinions expressed are those of the author, not the institution.
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Best wishes,
Michael
____________________________________
Michael McCulloch, LAc, MPH
Pine Street Clinic
124 Pine Street, San Anselmo, CA 94960-2674
tel 415.407.1357
fax 415.485.1065
email: [email protected]
web: www.pinest.org
www.pinestreetfoundation.org
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