Dataset Information

Healthy Volunteer 2020: Comparing Peace Corps Volunteers' health metrics with Healthy People 2020 national objectives.

ABSTRACT: Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) provides a set of quantifiable objectives for improving the health and well-being of Americans. This study examines Peace Corps Volunteers' health metrics in comparison with the Leading Health Indicators (LHIs) in order to set baseline measures for Volunteers' health care and align our measurements with Healthy People 2020 standards. Health data from multiple internal Peace Corps datasets were compared with relevant LHIs and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Seventeen (65%) of the 26 LHIs were relevant to Peace Corps Volunteers. Of these, Volunteers' health measures met or were more favorable than the goals of 13 (76%) of the LHIs. There were no data available for 4 (24%) of the LHIs. The entire Volunteer population has full access to primary care, oral health, and reproductive health services. No suicides or homicides were reported among Volunteers during the analyzed time period. Utilizing the LHIs, we have identified high-priority public health issues relevant for the Peace Corps Volunteer population. We discuss the need for quality data to measure and monitor Volunteers' health progress and outcomes over time, and also to standardize our measurements with Healthy People 2020 benchmarks. This framework may foster greater collaboration to engage in health promotion and disease prevention activities driven by evidence-based information, which may, in turn, encourage healthy behavior among Volunteers.

SUBMITTER: Henderson SJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4929143 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Healthy Volunteer 2020: Comparing Peace Corps Volunteers' health metrics with Healthy People 2020 national objectives.

Henderson Susan J SJ Newman Jeannette J Ferguson Rennie W RW Jung Paul P

Preventive medicine reports 20160524

Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) provides a set of quantifiable objectives for improving the health and well-being of Americans. This study examines Peace Corps Volunteers' health metrics in comparison with the Leading Health Indicators (LHIs) in order to set baseline measures for Volunteers' health care and align our measurements with Healthy People 2020 standards. Health data from multiple internal Peace Corps datasets were compared with relevant LHIs and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Sev ...[more]

PMID: 27413680

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Project description:Background: The National Youth Service Corps programme is, among other targets, aimed at promoting national inclusiveness and tolerance in a culturally heterogeneous society. Despite the importance of this programme, little has been done to evaluate its degree of success. Where evaluations are done, they are never made public. There is a need for the NYSC programme, just like all other public programmes, to be evaluated for transparency, accountability and decision-making. From an evaluation of the three measurable objectives of the NYSC programme, this dataset bridges this gap . Methods: This dataset was collected from Nigerian graduates that completed their national service between 2012 and 2021. The data was collected through an electronic survey posted to various online platforms hosting National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members of the various sets and batches. The data collection aimed to evaluate the three cardinal objectives of the programme. After three years of data collection (from 2019 to 2021), responses were obtained from 19,278 participants that met the eligibility criteria. The data is an Excel (.xlsx) document with 19,278 cases and 95 variables. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and simple percentages were used to summarise the data. However, charts are further used to illustrate the demographic attributes of the respondents. The dataset is broad and covers all the 36 states in Nigeria plus the Federal Capital Territory. Results: The data set has many reuse potentials because it contains information on camp activities (such as parades, military drills, redeployment, quality of food, and facilities, among others), primary assignments and community service engagements of corps members. Conclusions: The data can offer a complete evaluation of how the (NYSC) has attained three of its four cardinal objectives. A series of relationships can further be determined and tested using inferential statistics among the variables included in the dataset.

Project description:Rationale: The acute respiratory distress syndrome is refractory to pharmacological intervention. Inappropriate activation of alveolar neutrophils is believed to underpin this disease’s complex pathophysiology, yet these cells have been little studied. Objectives: To examine the functional and transcriptional profiles of patient blood and alveolar neutrophils compared to healthy volunteer cells, and define their sensitivity to phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibition. Methods: Twenty three ventilated patients underwent bronchoalveolar lavage. Alveolar and blood neutrophil apoptosis, phagocytosis and adhesion molecules were quantified by flow cytometry, and oxidase responses by chemiluminescence. Cytokine and transcriptional profiling utilized multiplex and GeneChip arrays. Measurements and Main Results: Patient blood and alveolar neutrophils were distinct from healthy circulating cells, with increased CD11b and reduced CD62L expression, delayed apoptosis and constitutively primed oxidase responses. Incubating control cells with disease bronchoalveolar lavage recapitulated the aberrant functional phenotype and this could be reversed by phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors. In contrast, the pro-survival phenotype of patient cells was recalcitrant to phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibition. RNA transcriptomic analysis revealed modified immune, cytoskeletal and cell death pathways in patient cells, aligning closely to sepsis and burns data sets but not with phosphoinositide 3-kinase signatures. Conclusions: Acute respiratory distress syndrome blood and alveolar neutrophils display a distinct primed, pro-survival profile and transcriptional signature. The enhanced respiratory burst was phosphoinositide 3-kinase-dependent, but delayed apoptosis and the altered transcriptional profile were not. These unexpected findings cast doubt over the utility of phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibition in acute respiratory distress syndrome and highlight the importance of evaluating novel therapeutic strategies in patient-derived cells.

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Dataset Information

Healthy Volunteer 2020: Comparing Peace Corps Volunteers' health metrics with Healthy People 2020 national objectives.

Publications

Healthy Volunteer 2020: Comparing Peace Corps Volunteers' health metrics with Healthy People 2020 national objectives.

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