Customizing the Kaplan-Meier Survival Plot

Here is a simple, complete program (except for retrieving the %ProvideSurvivalMacros macro from the sample library) with setup, macro variable modifications to change the title, and cleanup:

/*-- Original Macro Variable Definitions ----------------------------------
%let TitleText0 = METHOD " Survival Estimate";
%let TitleText1 = &titletext0 " for " STRATUMID;
%let TitleText2 = &titletext0 "s";
-------------------------------------------------------------------------*/

                                          /* Make the macros and macro      */
%ProvideSurvivalMacros                    /* variables available.           */

%let TitleText0 = "Kaplan-Meier Plot";    /* Change the title.              */
%let TitleText1 = &titletext0 " for " STRATUMID;
%let TitleText2 = &titletext0;

%CompileSurvivalTemplates                 /* Compile the templates with     */
                                          /* the new title.                 */

proc lifetest data=sashelp.BMT            /* Perform the analysis and make  */
              plots=survival(cb=hw test); /* the graph.                     */
   time T * Status(0);
   strata Group;
run;

%ProvideSurvivalMacros                    /* Optionally restore the default */
                                          /* macros and macro variables.    */

proc template;                            /* Delete the modified templates. */
   delete Stat.Lifetest.Graphics.ProductLimitSurvival  / store=sasuser.templat;
   delete Stat.Lifetest.Graphics.ProductLimitSurvival2 / store=sasuser.templat;
run;

The results are displayed in Figure 23.17. You can see that the graph title is now 'Kaplan-Meier Plot'.

There are multiple title macro variables because two different types of plots are defined in the survival plot templates. The first macro variable, TitleText0, contains the text that is the same for both types of plots. The second macro variable, TitleText1, contains the title for the single-stratum case. The third macro variable, TitleText2, contains the title for the multiple-strata case. Both TitleText1 and TitleText2 use the common text defined in TitleText0. Both TitleText0 and TitleText2 were changed from their original definition; the definition of TitleText1 was copied from the %ProvideSurvivalMacros macro. You must provide all relevant %LET statements when you modify TitleText0. In this case it is TitleText0 and TitleText2, but it is easy to copy all three and then just modify what you need. Alternatively, when you know the number of strata, you can modify only TitleText1 or TitleText2.