I have string variables with codes (1 million records - the database works
very well in Stata (100+ MB)
CAUSE (a string variable) AGE ... more variables
A391 71
A483 32
A985 45
B222 85
B230 91
D469 56
D593 74
D65' 44
D762 58
D814 65
D820 69
D821 72
D824 85
etc...
a sample of the codes are: (taken from a Proc Format
statement in SAS) There are thousands of them. And in any one database there
will be a subset of these codes. They are shortened about as much as they
can be, there are subtle distinctions in some codes for closely related
diseases.
'A391'='Waterhouse Friderichsen syndrome'
'A483'='Toxic shock syndrome'
'A985'='Hemorrhagic fever w renal syndrome'
'B222'='HIV dis wasting syndrome'
'B230'='Act HIV infect syndrome'
'D469'='Myelodysplastic syndrome, unspec'
'D593'='Hemolytic uremic syndrome'
'D65' ='Diseminated intravascular coagulation [defibrination syndrome]'
'D762'='Hemophagocytic syndrome, infect assoc'
'D814'='Nezelofs syndrome'
'D820'='Wiskott Aldrich syndrome'
'D821'='Di Georges syndrome'
'D824'='Hyperimmunoglobulin E [IgE] syndrome'
Then when I want to do a frequency table or most anything else where the
code will be displayed I want to see the value label for the code instead
I do not want to see
CAUSE frequencies or whatever
A391
A483
A985
B222
B230
D469
D593
D65
D762
D814
D820
D821
D824
on my output but:
CAUSE frequencies or whatever
Waterhouse Friderichsen syndrome
Toxic shock syndrome
Hemorrhagic fever w renal syndrome
HIV dis wasting syndrome
Act HIV infect syndrome
Myelodysplastic syndrome, unspec
Hemolytic uremic syndrome
Diseminated intravascular coagulation [defibrination syndrome]
Hemophagocytic syndrome, infect assoc
Nezelofs syndrome
Wiskott Aldrich syndrome
Di Georges syndrome
Hyperimmunoglobulin E [IgE] syndrome
Clearly this is an extreme case, but it comes up with Zip Codes or other
geographic identifiers that appear as strings, often with periods in them
(like US census tracts) from a GIS. Can't use these as numbers and I need to
link value labels to them (like the name of the Zip Code)
Richard Hoskins
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Nick Cox
Sent: Friday, October 25, 2002 9:15 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: st: RE: suggestion for Stata 8: value labels for string
variables
HealthMaps
>
> I asked this list about the possibility of labeling string
> variables, like
> ICD9 or 10 codes, census tract identifiers, with value
> labels. An ominous
> silence.
>
> I asked tech support who did everything possible to help me
> out suggesting
> work-arounds. In the end, Stata does not allow value
> labeling of string
> variables. (i hope i am wrong...) Tech support has very nice people.
>
> Unfortunately all my data is loaded with string variables
> for codes for
> various diseases, hospital procedures, geographic codes,
> etc. and to put
> those labels as part of the database would significantly enlarge the
> database. I tried the encode route but this means that
> every database I have
> with the same set of codes has a different set of encoded values.
>
> So I suggest that the capacity to value label string
> variables be added to
> Stata 8. Something that one can do in SAS, SPSS, and S-Plus.
>
You can't attach value labels to string variables
in Stata. You can of course attach value labels
to numeric variables.
However, I don't understand what is wanted here.
I'd like to know what tasks are made difficult or impossible
because you can't have this.
I see string values as being their own
value labels. If you want as it were short
and long versions of some string variable,
then they can be put in two related string
variables.
I can see issues in terms of
1. storage overhead
2. smart ways of abbreviating long
to short
but please spell out why you want this.
Nick
[email protected]
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