This is a problem that I have had to deal with so many times (most frequent defect) that I built a macro.
Purpose is to identify the most frequent value of a variable for each classification variable. The output is a data table.
For your example the usage would be:
%freq_class(dsnin=data_table_name, var=death_date, class=id, dsnout=death_dates);
%macro freq_class(dsnin=, var=, class=, dsnout=);
/* dsnin = input data set name */
/* var = variable to analyze */
/* class = classification variable */
/* dsnout = output data set name */
proc freq data=&dsnin noprint;
tables &var*&class /norow nocol nocum nopercent out=&dsnout;
run;
proc sort data=&dsnout;
by &class descending count;
run;
data &dsnout;
set &dsnout;
by &class;
if first.&class;
run;
%mend;
... View more