ADaM Datasets for Graphs

The paper is intended for clinical trial SAS® programmers who create graphs using ADaM (Analysis Data Model) datasets. ADaM datasets are analysis-ready, so programmers need to apply CDISC principles and guidelines to create them, while at the same time being mindful of their intent as plotting datasets. The paper will discuss the basic principles of graph creation using ADaM datasets. We propose the use of PARAM, AVAL, AVISIT and AVISITN for plotting. The paper will show in an example how to use AVAL for the y-axis and AVISITN for the x-axis for simple plotting. We will discuss the role of AVISITN as a numeric representation of AVISIT and propose the use of AVISITN for plotting purposes. We will also discuss some of the graphs created by features of SAS/STAT, ODS GRAPH and Graph Template Language (GTL). This will eliminate some of the intermediate SAS datasets that SAS programmers need to create for graph creations, which means that the graphs can be created directly from ADaM without the intermediate datasets. Examples using SAS/STAT, ODS GRAPH and GTL will be provided.