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Know Your Family History

Posted: Nov. 1, 2006

Everyone can recognize traits that run in their family, such as curly hair or dimples. Family members share their genes, as well as their environment, lifestyles and habits. Risks for diseases such as asthma, diabetes, cancer and heart disease also run in families.

Even though you cannot change your genetic makeup, knowing your family history can help you reduce your risk for developing health problems. For example, you can reduce the risk of disease by eating a healthy diet, getting enough exercise and not smoking.

The key features of a family history that may increase risk are:

• Diseases that occur at an earlier age than expected (10 to 20 years before most people get the disease)
• Disease in more than one close relative
• Disease that does not usually affect a certain gender (for example breast cancer in males)
• Certain combination of diseases within a family (for example, breast and ovarian cancer, or heart disease and diabetes)

If a family has one or more of these features, there is an increased family health risk. Sometimes, a family may have an inherited form of disease that is passed on from generation to generation. In these families, the risk for disease may be very high.

Learning about your family history

Collect information about your grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews, siblings and children. The type of information to collect includes:

• Major medical conditions and causes of death
• Age of disease onset and age at death
• Ethnic background

What diseases in my family health history should I be concerned about?

Genetic factors contribute to the cause and the response to therapy of many types of illnesses. Genetic disorders are influenced by abnormalities in your DNA. Some of these abnormalities cause more commonly recognized genetic conditions such as sickle cell disease or cystic fibrosis. As research continues, we learn more about the role of genes in chronic diseases experienced throughout a lifetime.

Chronic diseases that have been associated with an increased family history include breast cancer, colon cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression and other psychiatric illnesses.

Hearing loss and vision loss also have been found to have a genetic contribution.

Sometimes a family history can even suggest variation in how useful certain drugs are in treating conditions experienced by family members. Side effects or responses to treatments also can be influenced by genetic factors.

What if I can’t find out my family health history?

Not everyone has access or knowledge to detail every member of their family's health history, so there may be blank areas. Seeking out legal records through state and government offices requires effort, but may provide additional details. Genealogy resources also may provide some leads in your search.

If you are adopted, the challenge may include accessing family medical information from birth parents. The National Adoption Clearinghouse at http://naic.acf.hhs.gov is a resource that may be utilized to learn more about this process.

What if there is no family history of disease? Will I be healthy?

Even if you do not have a history of a disease in your family, you may still be at risk for that disease. This is because:

• Your lifestyle, personal health history and other factors influence your chances of getting a disease.
• Your family could have a history of disease that you don’t know about.
• You could have family members who died young, before they developed heart disease, diabetes, cancer or other diseases.

Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

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