Counting symbol or split field?

[deleted_user]

I am trying to get a count of comorbidities for each patient. I have a variable that is a list of comorbidities seperated by commas. Is there a way to count the commas in the field? Or would you advise splitting them into multiple variables? The most anyone has is 11 comorbidities.

Sample:
Sleep apnea,Lichen planus,IBS,RAD,Multinodular thyroid,Actinic keratosis,Neuropathy

[sbb]

Have a look at the COUNT function.

Scott Barry
SBBWorks, Inc.

Suggested Google advanced search argument, this topic / post:

count words site:sas.com

[art297]

Vanessa,

If there is a chance that some records don't have any comorbidities, you could do something like the following:

data have;
informat comorbidities $255.;
infile cards truncover;
input comorbidities &;
i=1;
count=0;
do while (not(missing(scan(comorbidities,i,','))));
i+1;
count+1;
end;
cards;
Sleep apnea,Lichen planus,IBS,RAD,Multinodular thyroid,Actinic keratosis,Neuropathy
Sleep apnea,Lichen planus,IBS

test
;

HTH,
Art