Customizing the Kaplan-Meier Survival Plot


Style Templates

Graphs that are produced by ODS Graphics are controlled by the data object (the matrix of information that is graphed), the graph template (the program that controls how a specific graph is constructed), and a style template (a program that controls the overall appearance of graphs, including colors, line and marker styles, sizes, fonts, and so on). Although it is rarely necessary, you can use different styles or modify styles to change the appearance of all graphs, including the survival plot. In the past, you could make certain Kaplan-Meier plot modifications only through style modifications. However, with the addition of the DATACOLORS=, DATACONTRASTCOLORS=, and DATALINEPATTERNS= options in the GTL, you no longer have to modify styles in order to modify how groups of observations are displayed. This section shows you how to change styles, extract group color and other information from styles, and modify styles.