A 52-year-old African American man has a family history of myocardial infarction in a brother at age 48
and in his father at age 57. He has a personal history of hypertension well controlled by lisinopril , a
low HDL cholesterol (32 mg./dl.) and a moderately elevated LDL cholesterol (156 mg./dl.). He has no
other cardiac risk factors. He is concerned about some recent weight gain and is thinking about
abandoning his habit of having two beers each day after work. However, he has heard that moderate use of
alcohol actually might reduce his risk of heart attack. He asks his physician about the role of alcohol
in modifying his chances of having a myocardial infarction.
Read the case above and formulate an appropriate specific clinical
question. Get help on developing a Well-Built Clinical
Question.
Type your question here:
A well-built clinical question on etiology:
Describes the key features of the patient
(and their disease if indicated) that could be relevant to health risks:
Age range
Gender
Race
You will use these features to compare your patient to study populations
to determine if the research results can be generalized to your patient.
Describes risk factors related to the outcome of concern
It's important to keep in mind a patient's complete risk profile for a disease when
assessing the applicability of a study focused on one risk factor.
Identifies the etiological factor or exposure
A clinical question should carefully specify the exposure including some measurement of its severity.
Specifies the disease that might be caused (or prevented) by the exposure or risk
factors