kmplot

Version 1.0.2 | 2026-04-22

kmplot turns an stset dataset into publication-ready survival graphics with sensible defaults for confidence intervals, risk tables, median lines, censor marks, and log-rank p-values. It keeps the flexibility of native Stata graphics while removing most of the repetitive styling work that usually follows sts graph.

Requirements

• Stata 16 or later
• Data already declared with stset

Installation

capture ado uninstall kmplot
net install kmplot, from("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tpcopeland/Stata-Tools/main/kmplot") replace

Commands

Command	Description
kmplot	Draw Kaplan-Meier or cumulative incidence curves with publication-oriented defaults

How It Works

• kmplot reads the current stset definition, so there is no separate model-fitting step.
• Add by() when you want one curve per group. pvalue only applies when by() is present.
• Add failure when you want cumulative incidence, that is 1 - S(t), instead of survival.
• Add ci, risktable, median, medianannotate, censor, and export() as you build up a manuscript-ready figure.

Worked Examples

1. Basic Kaplan-Meier curve

sysuse cancer, clear
stset studytime, failure(died)
kmplot

2. Stratified publication-style figure

This adds the features that usually matter in a manuscript figure: confidence bands, a number-at-risk table, median reference lines, censor marks, and the log-rank p-value.

sysuse cancer, clear
stset studytime, failure(died)
kmplot, by(drug) ci risktable median medianannotate pvalue censor

3. Cumulative incidence instead of survival

sysuse cancer, clear
stset studytime, failure(died)
kmplot, by(drug) failure risktable

4. Export the finished graph directly

sysuse cancer, clear
stset studytime, failure(died)
kmplot, by(drug) ci median export(km_figure.pdf, replace)

Key Features

• Shaded confidence bands or dashed confidence-interval lines via cistyle(band) and cistyle(line)
• Number-at-risk tables, with optional cumulative event counts
• Median survival reference lines and optional note annotations
• Censor marks with thinning through censorthin()
• Direct graph export through export()
• Pass-through support for standard twoway graph options

Version History

• 1.0.2 (2026-04-22): Varabbrev wrapper refactored to cover all exit paths (syntax, validation, and main logic). Fixed literal-quote rendering in user-supplied ytitle/xtitle/note options. Removed unnecessary set more off. Export success message now guarded by confirm file.
• 1.0.1 (2026-04-10): Initial Stata-Tools release with Kaplan-Meier, cumulative-incidence, risk-table, censoring, median-line, and export support

Author

Timothy P Copeland, Karolinska Institutet