LibGuides: PICO Questions: Home

What is PICO?

PICO is an acronym that allows you to translate a clinical observation, problem or trend into a focused question to help you quickly search the medical literature to identify relevant information to answer the question. It means

Patient/Population Intervention Comparison Outcomes

Who is your patient?

Age, sex, race or patient
Primary problem
Health status

What do you plan on doing for the patient?

Diagnostic test
Medication
Procedure

What alternative are you considering?

Another test, medication or procedure
Watchful waiting

What do you wish to accomplish?

Accurate diagnosis
Relieve or improve symptoms
Maintain function

Example: Is adherence to the Mediterranean Diet associated with reduced risk of heart attack?

Patient/Population	Intervention	Comparison	Outcomes
Adult History of heart disease	Mediterranean Diet	Typical Diet No comparison	Reduction in heart attacks

Examples of PICO Questions

PICO questions can have varying formats and are often very specific. Here are a few examples:

Is intermittent fasting (I) more effective than exercise (C) in improving glycemic control (O) in adults with type 2 diabetes (P) ?

*In some cases the comparison element of a PICO question is doing nothing or watchful waiting:

What is the effect of yoga (I) on reducing feelings of anxiety (O) in veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress (P)?

*For some topics, it is helpful to add T (time) to the question:

Is patient-controlled analgesia (I) more effective than nurse administered analgesia (C) in controlling pain (O) in knee arthroplasty patients (P) in the postoperative period (T)?

Learn more about PICO:

Gallagher Ford L, Melnyk BM. The Underappreciated and Misunderstood PICOT Question: A Critical Step in the EBP Process. Worldviews Evid Based Nurs. 2019;16(6):422-423. doi:10.1111/wvn.12408
Luijendijk HJ. How to create PICO questions about diagnostic tests . BMJ Evid Based Med. 2021;26(4):155-157. doi:10.1136/bmjebm-2021-111676
Twa MD. Evidence-Based Clinical Practice: Asking Focused Questions (PICO). Optom Vis Sci. 2016;93(10):1187-1188. doi:10.1097/OPX.0000000000001006
Cochrane Clinical Answers--is a database of PICO questions on many topics that you can browse.

Begin Your Search with PICO

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