TableOne: an online web application and R package for summarising and visualising data

Abstract

ObjectiveTo develop an easy-to-use R package and web application that summarises baseline characteristics across different arms of a clinical trial or different exposures.MethodsTables and figures are the efficient means of visualising, communicating and summarising data. It is common in comparative effectiveness research to provide a synopsis of characteristics and outcomes across the various treatment groups. The popularity of such a table has earned it a name and we simply call it the ‘TableOne’, as it is usually the first TableOne encounters looking at a published clinical trial. Such a table includes not only descriptive statistics for each group but also appropriate tests (p values and 95% CIs) for checking for differences across groups. We have developed an R package (called TableOne) (accessible through https://github.com/agapiospanos/TableOne) that quickly summarises and compares results across different groups. We have also extended it to an online web application that is easily handled by the researcher. All computations are done in R and plots are produced using the plotly library. We provide a detailed description on how to use the web application.ResultsThe application guides the user in a step by step format (wizard) and it is accessible through any browser in the following link (https://esm.uoi.gr/shiny/tableone/). Finally, appropriate interactive plots are provided for each variable.ConclusionsThis easy-to-use web application will help researchers quickly and easily to visualise differences across treatment groups or different exposures.