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*Effective Health Science Searching: PICO Questions

Effective Health Science Searching

PICO Questions

Introduction

Before you start your search, it is important to have a well-built question. One way to construct a well-built question is to use the PICO model.  

How would I describe the problem or a group of patients? What are the most important characteristics of the patient? 
  • Age, sex, race or patient 
  • Primary problem 
  • Health status 
What main intervention, prognostic factor or exposure? What do you want to do with this patient? 
  • Diagnostic test 
  • Medication 
  • Procedure 
Is there an alternative to compare with the intervention?
  • What is the main alternative being considered, if any? 
  • Another test, medication or procedure 
  • Watchful? waiting?
What do I hope to accomplish, measure, improve or affect? 
  • Accurate diagnosis 
  • Relieve or improve symptoms 
  • Maintain function 

PICO framework and example questions

The PICO framework can be used to break down various types of questions into their component parts:

Question Type P I C O
Therapy Patient characteristics, disease Specific drug or procedural intervention Comparison intervention (e.g., placebo or no treatment) Outcomes of interest (e.g., management of diseases or condition)
Therapy Example Question In patients with hypertension and at least one additional cardiovascular disease risk factor Does tight systolic blood pressure control Lead to lower rates of myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, and cardiovascular mortality Compared to conservative control?
Etiology Patient or population Exposure to certain conditions or risk behaviours Absence of certain conditions or risk behaviours Outcomes of interest (e.g., development of disease or condition)
Etiology Example Question Are women With a history of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) At higher risk for gynecological cancers Than women with no history of PID?
Diagnosis Patient or problem Specific diagnostic tool or procedure Alternative diagnostic tool or procedure (e.g., current gold standard) Specificity, sensitivity (usually left blank in a search)
Diagnosis Example Question Among asymptomatic adults at low risk of colon cancer Is fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) As sensitive and specific for diagnosing colon cancer As colonoscopy?
Prognosis Patient, population, or problem Prognostic factor None Outcomes of interest (e.g., mortality, recurrence)
Prognosis Example Question Among adults with a history of myocardial infarction Does adherence to a Mediterranean diet Lower risk of a second myocardial infarction Compared to those who do not adopt a Mediterranean diet?

 

PICO questions generator

This tool helps you generate PICO questions. Click on the ℹ️ icon for more information about each type of PICO question.

  1. Click the information icon (i) to view the context of each question type.
  2. Fill in the input fields with relevant details for your question
  3. Click on the "Generate PICO question" button to see the constructed question in a popup.
Therapyℹ️
Questions addressing the treatment of an illness or disability.


Preventionℹ️
Questions addressing the treatment of conditions.


Diagnosis or diagnostic testℹ️
Questions addressing the act or process of identifying or determining the nature and cause of a disease or injury through evaluation.


Prognosisℹ️
Questions addressing the prediction of the course of a disease.


Etiologyℹ️
Questions addressing the causes or origins of disease (i.e., factors that produce or predispose toward a certain disease or disorder).


Meaningℹ️
Questions addressing how one experiences a phenomenon.


Next step

Hopefully, now you have a narrow question you can use to guide your research. However, you might need to change your topic as you begin searching. 

You can review the general information about narrowing a question or move on to the information about keywords.

Return to
Stop 1:Choosing a Topic
Look at
General Narrowing Information
Move to
Stop 2: Picking Keywords

Credit Statement: The information on this page was reused and adapted (with permission) from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai's Evidence Based Medicine: The PICO Framework Guide and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Evidence Based Medicine: The PICO Framework. Additionally, content was reused and adapted under Creative Commons permissions from Ellen Fineout-Overholt, 2006 and from the 

Material is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC.