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With Mayo Clinic genetic counselor Carrie A. Zabel, M.S., C.G.C.

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November 18, 2008

Family medical history important tool

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By Carrie A. Zabel, M.S., C.G.C.

In 2003, the U.S. surgeon general announced that Thanksgiving Day would also be recognized as the first annual "National Family History Day."

As we move closer to the 5th anniversary of this celebrated event, I hope to provide you with information about how to take and interpret your own family medical history.

This month, we will review the right questions to ask, how to ask them and how to put the data into a format that can be more easily interpreted by your health provider.

We have long known that diseases run in families and thus, your family medical history is an important tool which enables you to better understand your health risks. However, understanding those risks is only a part of the health solution.

Medical professionals hope that, by recognizing what diseases you may be at risk for, you may be more inclined to alter any unhealthy lifestyle habits that also increase your risk to develop disease.

When reviewing your family medical history, it is important to know which diseases to focus on. Diseases which are known to run in families include:

Cardiovascular disease (hypertension and stroke)
Cancer
Diabetes
Mental illness
Osteoporosis
Arthritis
Obesity

Professionals generally suggest that you collect at least three generations of medical history. Relatives whose medical history has the most impact on you include your first- (children, siblings and parents) and second-degree relatives (grandchildren, nieces/nephews, aunts/uncles and grandparents).

Record any of the above medical diagnoses and the ages when people were diagnosed. Also, pay attention to possible environmental contributors in affected relatives. For instance, if someone developed diabetes, what were their exercise and eating habits?

Links to additional information about family medical history can be found below. Please share your stories about your personal family history and how it has impacted your health and lifestyle!

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6 comments posted

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January 5, 2009 2:16 p.m.

Great article on family medical history. You may be interested to know that there is a new website called ItRunsInMyFamily.com that allows a users to build their family pedigree then enter in diseases that run in their family. The tool is free and open to the public to use. It looks pretty neat. The URL is www.itrunsinmyfamily.com.

- Brandon

December 2, 2008 9:52 a.m.

On Dec 2, 2008, at 9:45AM, from Michelle: Hi you all thank you for the information what if anything do you have on these which I must take daily for My Health. Primidone250Mgs., 1 3 times a day, Estropipate1.25 mgs., 1 a day, Levothroxine .75 MG., 1 in the Morning a hour before breakfast or two Hours later, 10 Mg. Lexapro at Night; and 4 1 Mg., Lorazepam at Bedtime, and this is just me not My Mommy or Older Siter Michelle

- moon9@cox.net

November 25, 2008 8:46 p.m.

Adopted persons are denied this basic human right. It is time to change the laws of this nation to give them the biological information that is critical to their's and their children's health. Incest is just another reason to insist upon changes to adoption laws!

- Jill Auerbach

November 25, 2008 3:32 p.m.

Interesting how the medical community and government health organizations advocate the importance of one knowing their family medical history...yet lawmakers and special interest "morality" groups insist and continue to lobby against the civil rights of adopted citizens. These individuals and groups go great lengths to ensure the adopted citizen is prohibited through maintaining out-dated state laws that prohibit the adopted citizen from identifying their biological relatives. Not only is our medical history important, but the need to identify biological relatives is vital in an effort to guard against incest. These are basic human rights that many lawmakers and special interest "morality" lobbyists continue to lobby against.

- Lori Jeske, Spokane, WA

November 23, 2008 11:24 p.m.

My grandmother on my father's side lived to a healthy age of 93, although my father died of alcohol poisoning at the age of 36. My grandmother on my mother's side died of phenomia at the age of 75. There is only one person in our family who had cancer and died of cancer, one of my aunts, but she smoked too much for too long. There is no diabetes, arthritis or cardiovascular disease in my family but my mom has high blood pressure. I don't know what my granddads died of which is something to investigate. Alcoholism runs on both sides and it's something I am affected with too. Other than that, I don't see any hereditary diseases that will affect me any time soon. I have a very unhealthy lifestyle, eating, drinking and smoking too much but my blood test which I get done regularly come out just fine.I don't think I'll ever have diabetes, heart disease or a stroke but am very likely to die young because of a unhealthy lifestyle.

- zeynep

November 18, 2008 2:03 p.m.

My local hospital keeps our medical records for only 10 years, tossing out (shredding/deleting) any older paperwork. My insurance carrier/doctor will go to computerized records very soon. I'm wondering if they will scan the entire files or just the last 10 years and shred anything older. Why is this happening?

- Janet