Identifying the PECO: A framework for formulating good questions to explore the association of environmental and other exposures with health outcomes.

By R. Morgan, P. Whaley, K. Thayer, Holger J. Schünemann. Environment International, 2018

1,084 citations recorded by the source corpus.

[First paragraph] A clearly-framed question creates the structure and delineates the approach to defining research objectives, conducting systematic reviews and developing health guidance (Guyatt et al., 2011; Armstrong et al., 2007). To assess the association between exposures and outcomes, including in the field of nutrition, environmental and occupational health, the concept of defining the Population (including animal species), Exposure, Comparator, and Outcomes (PECO) as pillars of the question is increasingly accepted (Morgan et al., 2016; Morgan et al., n.d.). Thus, the PECO defines the objectives of the review or guideline. Furthermore, the PECO informs the study design or inclusion and exclusion criteria for a review, as well as facilitating the interpretation of the directness of the findings based on how well the actual research findings represent the original question.

Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f9d65204ca2da625dd3756a8c645a87be1c88511

Citations in the corpus

• Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses (2024, neutral): “22 Eligible meta-analysis studies comprised human populations across the life course, irrespective of health status (population).”