What is a Family Medical History? By Amanda C. Outlaw, Urban Regional Extension Agent, Mobile & Baldwin Counties

We inherit a lot of things from our parents and other family members, such as our shoe size, hair texture, and facial features. However, these are not the only characteristics you inherit from your family. Many medical conditions, including heart disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes, alcoholism, and Alzheimer's disease are hereditary diseases passed through familial lines.

A family medical history or medical family tree is a record of important medical information about your relatives, which includes illnesses and diseases, along with the relationships among the members of your family. A family health or medical history begins by talking with your immediate family members ­ parents, grandparents and siblings ­ as they provide the most important links to genetic risks.

Some studies say that more than 40 percent of the population is at risk for common diseases such as cancer, diabetes or heart disease. Understanding your risk for developing such diseases is an important reason to learn more about your family history. By knowing your risks, you can make informed decisions about prevention and screening, and even participate in genetic-based research aimed at understanding, preventing, and curing diseases. For example, if your father had colon cancer at age 45, you should probably be screened at an earlier age for colon cancer than age 50, the average age for first-time colon cancer screening.

A family medical history also helps document familial patterns that may impact your health, such as trends towards specific types of cancer, early heart disease, or even something simple as skin problems. Compiling a family medical history can help you and your doctor identify these family patterns and use the information to diagnose a medical condition or determine whether you could benefit from preventive measures to lower your health risks.

The United States Surgeon General suggests that we go back three generations (to your grandparents or great grandparents) and try to collect details on every direct family member who has died and the cause of death. Also, document the medical conditions of all family members, including the age at which they were first diagnosed, their treatment, and if they ever had surgery.

Providing this vital information can be a tremendous benefit to the legacy you leave for your family. A good place to start is My Family Health Portrait that allows you to create a personalized family health history report from any computer with an Internet connection and an up-to-date Web browser. Information you provide creates a drawing of your family tree and a chart of your family health history. Both the chart and the drawing can be printed and shared with your family members or your healthcare professional. Used in consultation with your healthcare professional, your family health history can help you review your family's health history and develop disease prevention strategies that are right for you. You can download the form at https://familyhistory.hhs.gov/.

References

Powell, Kimberly. (2007). All in the family: Tracing your family medical history. Retrieved September 7, 2007.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services. U.S. surgeon general's family history initiative. Retrieved September 7, 2007.

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