Have you ever wondered why your doctor asks about your family’s medical history? Questions like, “Did your aunts, grandmother, mother, or sisters have breast cancer?” or “Does type 2 diabetes run in your family?” are common. Maybe you’ve been asked if multiple family members have suffered from heart attacks. But why is all this important?
You and your family might share more than just habits and interests. You live in similar environments and, importantly, you share genes that can influence your health.
Most families have at least one chronic condition in their family history including cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. Most families have at least one chronic condition in their history, such as cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. If several close relatives have a chronic condition, it could mean you’re more likely to face it too. Sharing this information with your doctor can help them recommend the best screening tests for you.
To get started, try gathering information about your siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives. Find out about their major medical conditions, causes of death, ages at diagnosis or death, and their ethnic backgrounds. Family gatherings are a great time to discuss health history.
Record your family history for yourself and others. Use a tool from the Surgeon General called My Family Health Portrait at https://cbiit.github.io/FHH/html/index.html
You can’t change your genetics, but you can change your personal health habits. In many cases, healthy habits can reduce your risk for diseases that run in your family. Consider these healthy habits from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- Quit tobacco use or don’t start
- Eat healthy
- Get regular physical activity
- Avoid or limit alcohol
- Get screened with regular age and gender appropriate screening tests according to your doctor’s recommendations
- Get enough sleep
For a tool to help you talk with your family members about health history, understand the ‘why’, and examples of how chronic conditions run in families, use the tool called Does it Run in the Family at https://doesitruninthefamily.org/
For more information, go to https://www.cdc.gov/family-health-history/index.html