Frequently Asked Questions

In rifttable: Results Tables to Bridge the Rift Between Epidemiologists and Their Data

knitr::opts_chunk$set(
  collapse = TRUE,
  comment = "#>"
)

Basic example

Most subsequent examples build on this simple rifttable:

library(rifttable)
library(dplyr) # for data management, e.g., mutate()
library(tibble) # for constructing a tibble, e.g. via tribble()
data(breastcancer, package = "risks")

design <- tribble(
  ~label,                       ~type,                   ~stratum,
  "**Overall**",                "",                      "",
  "  Deaths/N",                 "outcomes/total",        c("Low", "High"),
  "  Risk",                     "risk",                  c("Low", "High"),
  "  Risk ratio (95% CI)",      "rr",                    c("Low", "High"),
  "  Risk difference (95% CI)", "rd",                    c("Low", "High"),
  "",                           "",                      "",
  "**Low hormone receptor**",   "",                      "",
  "  Deaths/N (Risk)",          "outcomes/total (risk)", "Low",
  "  Risk difference (95% CI)", "rd",                    "Low",
  "**High hormone receptor**",  "",                      "",
  "  Deaths/N (Risk)",          "outcomes/total (risk)", "High",
  "  Risk difference (95% CI)", "rd",                    "High"
) |>
  mutate(
    exposure = "stage",
    outcome = "death",
    effect_modifier = "receptor"
  )

rifttable(
  design = design,
  data = breastcancer
) |>
  rt_gt() # obtain formatted output

Why do I get an error?

R's error messages can be frustrating. When using rifttable, these are the typical sources of errors:

• Clerical errors in variable names and arguments. There is no magic here except double-checking the code.
• Missing data. See below: How do I handle missing data?.
• Discrepancy between estimator (type) and the data. For example, type = "mean" will not work on a categorical (factor) variable.
• Models that fail to converge. For example, one may be trying to estimate a risk ratio with 0 outcomes in the reference category, or adjusting for 20 covariates in a Cox model with 5 events overall. (Sometimes such attempts will "just" return warning messages -- it is still worth rethinking the modeling strategy.)

To identify where an error is coming from, start simple. Comment out all but one line of the design, putting # at the beginning of the line. Start with a line that gives basic descriptive data, such as type = "total", type = "outcomes" or type = "events/time", and re-run rifttable(). Then add more lines with descriptive estimators, one by one. At the end, add lines that fit models, such as type = "hr".

What is the design?

The design that the rifttable() function takes as input is simply a dataset that defines how the table should look like when rifttable() has processed the data.

The design can be constructed in many different ways. All lead to the same table:

1. A dataset (tibble) defined using tribble()

   r design1 <- tribble( ~label, ~exposure, ~outcome, ~type, "N", "stage", "death", "total", "Deaths", "stage", "death", "outcomes" ) design1 rifttable( design = design1, data = breastcancer ) |> rt_gt()

2. A dataset (tibble) defined using tibble()

   r design2 <- tibble( label = c("N", "Deaths"), exposure = "stage", outcome = "death", type = c("total", "outcomes") ) design2 rifttable( design = design2, data = breastcancer ) |> rt_gt()

3. Concatenating tibbles, then editing with mutate()

   r design3 <- bind_rows( tibble( # row 1 label = "N", type = "total" ), tibble( # row 2 label = "Deaths", type = "outcomes" ) ) |> mutate( # elements that are the same for all rows exposure = "stage", outcome = "death" ) design3 rifttable( design = design3, data = breastcancer ) |> rt_gt()

4. For descriptive tables: Use table1_design()

   r design4 <- breastcancer |> table1_design( death, # the total count will automatically be included by = stage ) design4 rifttable( design = design4, data = breastcancer ) |> rt_gt()

   See a separate overview about a descriptive Table 1.

5. External datasets

   The design could even be written out in an external dataset that can be loaded with readr::read_csv() (for CSV files) or readxl::read_excel() (for Excel sheets).

How do I handle missing data?

rifttable tries to make as few assumptions as possible about how the user wants to treat missing data.

• Missing values in exposure: By default, missing vales (NA) in the exposure are displayed as a separate exposure category for descriptive statistics (e.g., type = "total" or type = "mean"). They are omitted by comparative estimators (e.g., regression models). To change this behavior, call rifttable() with the argument exposure_levels = "nona".
• Missing values in outcome: By default, descriptive statistics will be missing (e.g., results will be -- or NA), and regression models will use the non-missing observations. To exclude observations with missing outcome values altogether, add na_rm = TRUE to (specific rows of) the design.
• Missing values in confounders: Applies only to regression models, which typically exclude observations with missing values.
• Missing values in the effect modifier: Stratified and joint models are only shown for the specified stratum of the effect_modifier. To include observations with the missing effect modifier, add NA to the requested stratum in the design, e.g., effect_modifier = "bmi", stratum = c("<25", NA).

How do I add overall statistics?

Use the overall argument to show descriptive data for the entire data set. Inferential estimators showing comparisons between exposure categories will be blank there.

rifttable(
  design = design,
  data = breastcancer,
  overall = TRUE
) |>
  rt_gt() # obtain formatted output

How do I test for trend?

Instead of testing a null hypothesis about a trend, rifttable proposes estimating the difference in the outcome for a one-unit higher exposure. This is also called a linear slope. Here, we estimate the risk associated for stage that is one category higher.

rifttable(
  design = design |>
    mutate(trend = "stage_numeric"),
  data = breastcancer |>
    mutate(stage_numeric = as.numeric(stage))
) |>
  rt_gt() # obtain formatted output

How do I show multiple exposures in the same table?

Our simple toy dataset just has one exposure variable. For demonstration, we just create a second variable, with two categories, "Level 1" and "Level 2," which is a simplified combination of the stage and receptor variables.

We will flip the table layout from "rows" (the default) to "cols" and concatenate two rifttables. We also need to give our new exposure2 variable the same label as stage to make sure results appear in the same column.

breastcancer_2exposures <- breastcancer |>
  mutate(
    exposure2 = case_when(
      stage == "Stage I" |
        (stage == "Stage II" & receptor == "High") ~
        "Level 1",
      stage == "Stage III" |
        (stage == "Stage II" & receptor == "Low") ~
        "Level 2"
    )
  )

attr(breastcancer_2exposures$exposure2, which = "label") <- "Exposure"
attr(breastcancer_2exposures$stage, which = "label") <- "Exposure"

bind_rows(
  design |>
    mutate(exposure = "exposure2") |>
    slice(2:5) |>
    rifttable(
      data = breastcancer_2exposures,
      layout = "cols"
    ),
  design |>
    slice(2:5) |>
    rifttable(
      data = breastcancer_2exposures,
      layout = "cols"
    )
) |>
  rt_gt() # obtain formatted output

How do I change how results are rounded?

By default, difference measures are being rounded to 2 decimal digits (0.01), such as type = "diff", the mean difference, or type = "quantreg", the median difference. The same goes for risk measures, such as type = "risk", unless shown as percentage points. Ratio measures are also shown with 2 decimal digits, such as type = "hr", the hazard ratio, or type = "fold", a ratio of arithmetic means.

Rounding can be changed by setting the rifttable() arguments diff_digits, risk_digits, and ratio_digits globally for the entire table.

design <- tribble(
  ~label,                     ~type,
  "Deaths/N",                 "outcomes/total",
  "Risk",                     "risk",
  "Risk ratio (95% CI)",      "rr",
  "Odds ratio (95% CI)",      "or",
  "Risk difference (95% CI)", "rd"
) |>
  mutate(
    exposure = "stage",
    outcome = "death"
  )

rifttable(
  design = design,
  data = breastcancer,
  ratio_digits = 3, # Many digits for ratios
  risk_digits = 1
) |> # Fewer digits for risks
  rt_gt() # obtain formatted output

As can be seen, ratios > 3 are still shown with 1 fewer decimal, and ratios > 10 are shown with 2 fewer decimals (Wilcox, Epidemiology 2004 motivates why). To disable such additional rounding of extremely high ratios:

rifttable(
  design = design,
  data = breastcancer,
  ratio_digits = 3,
  ratio_digits_decrease = NULL, # Do not round high ratios more
  risk_digits = 1
) |>
  rt_gt() # obtain formatted output

Additionally, rounding can be changed for each row, adding a column digits to the rifttable design:

tribble(
  ~label,                     ~type,            ~digits,
  "Deaths/N",                 "outcomes/total", NA, # Uses rifttable default
  "Risk",                     "risk",           NA, # Uses risk_digits below
  "Risk ratio (95% CI)",      "",               NA,
  "  Rounded to 1 digit",     "rr",             1,
  "  Rounded to 2 digits",    "rr",             2,
  "Risk difference (95% CI)", "rd",             3
) |> # Overrides risk_digits
  mutate(
    exposure = "stage",
    outcome = "death"
  ) |>
  rifttable(
    data = breastcancer,
    risk_digits = 1
  ) |> # Fewer digits for risks, unless specified by "digits"
  rt_gt() # obtain formatted output

How can I create joint models?

By default, regression models will be fit separately for each stratum of the effect_modifier.

Append "_joint" to "hr", "rr", "rd", "irr", "irrrob", "diff", "fold", "foldlog", "quantreg", or "or" to obtain "joint" models for exposure and effect modifier that have a single reference category.

Note that the joint model will be fit across all non-missing (NA) strata of the effect modifier, even if the design table does not request all strata be shown.

Compare stratified models to joint models for risk differences (for simplicity of presentation, count data are omitted):

tribble(
  ~label,                       ~type,      ~stratum,
  "**Overall**",                "rd",       c("Low", "High"),
  "",                           "",         "",
  "**Stratified models**",      "",         "",
  "  Low hormone receptor",     "rd",       "Low",
  "  High hormone receptor",    "rd",       "High",
  "",                           "",         "",
  "**Joint models**",           "",         "",
  "  Low hormone receptor",     "rd_joint", "Low",
  "  High hormone receptor",    "rd_joint", "High"
) |>
  mutate(
    exposure = "stage",
    outcome = "death",
    effect_modifier = "receptor"
  ) |>
  rifttable(data = breastcancer) |>
  rt_gt()

How can I change the reference category?

The reference categories for exposure and effect modifier are always their first factor levels. Compare the preceding example: "High" is, alphabetically, before "Low". To change the reference category, use forcats::fct_relevel() or the base R alternative relevel() on variables in the data provided to rifttable():

tribble(
  ~label,                       ~type,      ~stratum,
  "**Joint models**",           "",         "",
  "  Low hormone receptor",     "rd_joint", "Low",
  "  High hormone receptor",    "rd_joint", "High"
) |>
  mutate(
    exposure = "stage",
    outcome = "death",
    effect_modifier = "receptor"
  ) |>
  rifttable(
    data = breastcancer |>
      mutate(
        receptor = relevel(
          factor(receptor), # Make "receptor" a factor in the first place
          ref = "Low"
        )
      )
  ) |> # Set new reference category
  rt_gt()

If a middle category of the exposure stage is desired as the reference:

result_reordered <- tibble(
  label = "**RD (95% CI)**",
  type = "rd",
  exposure = "stage",
  outcome = "death"
) |>
  rifttable(
    data = breastcancer |>
      mutate(
        stage = relevel(
          stage,
          ref = "Stage II"
        )
      )
  )

result_reordered |>
  rt_gt()

Using forcats::fct_relevel() may be preferable over relevel(), as it preserves the variable label: here, the variable stage lost its label, "Stage" starting with upper case S.

That results for "Stage II" are now listed first is probably undesirable. Reorder the columns of the table that rifttable() produced to print results for "Stage I" first:

result_reordered |>
  select(stage, "Stage I", everything()) |>
  rt_gt()

How I do I change the level for confidence intervals?

Add a ci column to the design:

tribble(
  ~label,            ~type,                   ~ci,
  "Deaths/N (Risk)", "outcomes/total (risk)", NA,
  "Risk ratio",      "",                      NA,
  "  80% CI",        "rr",                    0.8,
  "  95% CI",        "rr",                    NA, # Defaults to 0.95
  "  99% CI",        "rr",                    0.99
) |>
  mutate(
    exposure = "stage",
    outcome = "death"
  ) |>
  rifttable(
    data = breastcancer,
    risk_percent = TRUE
  ) |>
  rt_gt() # obtain formatted output

How do I make rifttable calculate an estimand that is not built-in?

While the package provides a number of estimators commonly used in epidemiology, it will never be able to include all possible estimators. However, any custom estimate can be integrated into a rifttable by a defining custom estimation function.

The subsequent example will reproduce the following basic rifttable, which shows the mean age by sex, stratified by ECOG performance status, in the cancer data set:

data(cancer, package = "survival")
cancer <- cancer |>
  tibble::as_tibble() |>
  mutate(
    sex = factor(
      sex,
      levels = 1:2,
      labels = c("Male", "Female")
    )
  )

design <- tibble::tibble(
  type = "mean",
  exposure = "sex",
  outcome = "age",
  effect_modifier = "ph.ecog",
  stratum = 1:2,
  label = paste0("ECOG PS ", stratum, ": mean age")
)

design |>
  rifttable(
    data = cancer,
    overall = TRUE
  ) |>
  rt_gt()

Instead of relying on rifttable's built-in estimator type = "mean", we will define a custom function that calculates the mean:

estimate_my_mean <- function(data, ...) {
  data |>
    group_by(.exposure) |>
    summarize(
      res = paste(
        round(
          mean(.outcome),
          digits = 3
        ),
        "yrs"
      )
    )
}

Use the custom function my_mean instead of the built-in mean:

design |> # Edit the previous design
  mutate(
    type = "my_mean", # Replace built-in "mean" by custom "my_mean"
    label = paste0(label, " (custom)")
  ) |>
  rifttable(
    data = cancer,
    overall = TRUE
  ) |>
  rt_gt()

Specifications for custom functions:

• The function name must start with estimate_; this prefix is to be omitted when later calling the custom function within rifttable().
• The data provided to rifttable() will be available to the custom function as an argument named data.
• The data are already subsetted to the stratum of the effect_modifier, if applicable.
• Copies of key variables are accessible under the names, .exposure, .outcome, .event, .time, and .time2, as applicable.
• The function must accept all elements of a rifttable design (e.g., confounders, digits, na_rm, etc.) and of the rifttable() function (e.g., reference, risk_percent) as arguments. Many may not be relevant and can be captured in the argument list, ... (see example).
• The function must return a tibble/data frame with one column for .exposure, with one row per exposure category, and one string column res for the estimate.

rifttable documentation built on June 8, 2025, 1:52 p.m.