Common Clinical Trial Results Graphs
Kaplan-Meier Curve
Probability of an outcome (usually survival or recurrence) over time based on total participants or comparing arms/subgroups. Generally, looking for curves that have space between them and don’t cross when comparing groups on the same curve. Sometimes includes ‘At risk’ numbers below the chart which reflect how many patients are still in the data set (the denominator) at each point in time. Dots or hash marks reflect ‘censoring’ meaning a patient is no longer being included in the data unrelated to the result being tracked, like they withdrew from the trial or they’ve lost contact during follow up.
Waterfall Plot
Percent tumor change by patient. Each bar represents a patient. Meaning of the colors of bars vary (sometimes by treatment, response, biomarker, cancer type)
Spider Plot
Individual patients’ percent tumor change trended over time. Each line represents a patient.
Swimmer Plot
Individual patients’ duration and key events on trial. Each ‘swim lane’ represents a patient.
Forest Plot
Displays individual study or subgroup estimates as boxes (sized by weight) with horizontal lines representing 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A central vertical line indicates the “line of no effect”
Tip: if a trial has high DCR or ORR, it can be helpful to look at Spider or Swimmer Plot to understand durability of those results.