Sample PICOT Questions

My PICOT question is,

(P) In patients with risk factors for CAD (I) how does exposure to extreme life stressors (C) vs patients with no known risk factors (I) contribute to the development of an acute STEMI/NSTEMI (T) in a 1-year time frame.

Stressful life events, such as natural calamities, financial crises, terroristic attacks and wars, are known to be life-threatening acute triggers for cardiac events, as are positive emotionally charged events (sport matches and Christmas and New Year’s holidays), thus worsening the prognosis in vulnerable individuals. Chronic stressors such as negative psychosocial factors represent modifiable risk factors that could be linked to adverse cardiac prognosis and the mortality rate worldwide. The international INTERHEART case control study proved that psychosocial factors were significantly related to acute myocardial infarction, with an odds ratio. Further meta-analyses of prospective observational studies found that certain psychosocial factors, such as social isolation and loneliness, were associated with a 50% increased risk of CVD; work-related stress showed similar results, with a 40% risk of new CV events. (Fioranelli, M., Bottaccioli, A. G., Bottaccioli, F., Bianchi, M., Rovesti, M., & Roccia, M. G. 2018)

Reference

Fioranelli, M., Bottaccioli, A. G., Bottaccioli, F., Bianchi, M., Rovesti, M., & Roccia, M. G.

(2018). Stress and Inflammation in Coronary Artery Disease: A Review

Psychoneuroendocrineimmunology-Based. Frontiers in immunology, 9, 2031.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02031