Lasagna plots: a saucy alternative to spaghetti plots

Epidemiology. 2010 Sep;21(5):621-5. doi: 10.1097/EDE.0b013e3181e5b06a.

Abstract

Longitudinal repeated-measures data often have been visualized with spaghetti plots for continuous outcomes. For large datasets, the use of spaghetti plots often leads to the over-plotting and consequential obscuring of trends in the data. This obscuring of trends is primarily due to the overlapping of trajectories. Here, we suggest a framework called lasagna plotting that constrains the subject-specific trajectories to prevent overlapping and utilizes gradients of color to depict the outcome. Dynamic sorting and visualization is demonstrated as an exploratory data analysis tool.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Data Display* / standards
  • Data Interpretation, Statistical
  • Humans
  • Longitudinal Studies / statistics & numerical data*
  • Research Design