PICO framework and the Population

The "P" in PICO represents the patient population or clinical problem

With PICO, the population of interest in a research question must be explicitly defined in terms of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The audience of research findings must be able to identify the population used in a study in order to properly generalize and apply clinical findings to their respective clinical populations.

The population must be described in regards to their demographic, prognostic, and clinical characteristics. These characteristics are often presented in "Table 1" of a research article. 

Population characteristics are also usually analyzed when independent groups are being compared (between-subjects) or followed into the future (within-subjects).  

If the "P" in PICO is primarily focused on a clinical problem, the focus is on the problem in terms of its biological, psychological, or physiological presentation within the context of clinical practice.
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When writing a research question, there must be an explicit definition of the population that is grounded in inclusion and exclusion criteria.