An Introduction to Stata for Health Researchers, Second Edition

This book focuses on the analyses used most often in health research. It covers various graph types, calculation commands, commands to modify data set structure, simple analyses of categorical and continuous variables, regression models, incidence and survival analysis, and measurement and diagnosis. This edition encompasses several of the new features in Stata 10, such as the Graph Editor and date-and-time variables, as well as a new section with exercises. The author stresses the importance of good documentation habits to prevent errors and wasting time. He also provides robust examples with downloadable data sets on the book’s website.

Table of Contents:
Getting Started Installing and updating Stata Starting and exiting Stata Customizing Stata (Windows) Windows in Stata Issuing commands Managing output Reusing commands Getting Help—and More The manuals Online help Other resources Errors and error messages Stata File Types and Names Command Syntax General syntax rules Syntax diagrams Lists of variables and numbers Qualifiers Weights Options Prefixes Other syntax elements Version control Variables Types of variables Numeric formats Missing values Storage types and precision Date and time variables String variables Memory considerations Getting Data in and out of Stata Opening and saving Stata data Entering data Reading ASCII data Exchanging data with other programs Documentation Commands Labels Working with labels: an example Calculations Generate and replace Operators and functions in calculations Extended functions: egen Recoding variables Checking correctness of calculations Numbering observations Commands Affecting Data Structure Safeguarding your data Selecting observations and variables Renaming and reordering variables Sorting data Combining files Reshaping data Description and Simple Analysis Overview of a dataset Listing observations Simple tables for categorical variables Analyzing continuous variables Estimating confidence intervals Immediate commands Graphs Anatomy of a graph Anatomy of graph commands Graph size Schemes Graph options: axes Graph options: text elements Plot options: markers, lines, etc. Graph examples By-graphs and combined graphs Using dialogs to generate commands The Graph Editor Saving, displaying, and printing graphs Stratified Analysis Cohort data without censorings Case–control data Regression Analysis Linear regression Logistic regression Other regression models Analyzing complex design data Incidence, Mortality, and Survival Incidence and mortality Survival analysis Cox regression Reorganizing st data Poisson regression Standardization Some advanced issues Measurement and Diagnosis Reproducibility of measurements Comparing methods of measurement Using tests for diagnosis Combining test results Miscellaneous Random samples, simulations Sample size and study power Other analyses Advanced Topics Using saved results Macros and scalars Programs Useful programming commands Do-files and ado-files useful for handling output Taking Good Care of Your Data The audit trail Data collection The codebook Folders and filenames: the log book Entering data Inspecting and correcting your data Modifying data Analysis Backing up and archiving Protecting against abuse Appendix: Manuals and Other Good Books Stata manuals Other books on Stata Books using Stata Appendix: Exercises The user interface Managing output Calculations Working with missing values Working with date variables Description and simple analysis Taking good care of your data Appendix: Advice on Working with Windows References Indices