Some people inherit heirlooms—jewelry, furniture, clothing, and other items—from their relatives. But there’s something even more valuable we all inherit: our health.
Finding out what medical conditions run in your family is one of the best ways to predict your risk for certain diseases. Relatives often get together around the holidays, so this time of year can be a good opportunity to learn about your family health history.
Our genes are important factors that affect our health. For example, people with sickle cell disease (a blood disorder) inherited the genetic variant for this illness from both parents.
But just because your family members have a condition doesn’t mean you have it or will in the future. For complex conditions such as diabetes, while family health history is important for determining individual risk, lifestyle and environmental factors also affect disease progression.
Laura Koehly, Ph.D., chief and senior investigator for the Social and Behavioral Research Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), explained that when people don't know their family health history, a doctor can't use that information to measure their risk and personalize their health care.
What a family health history can do for you
- Give health care providers information to identify disease at earlier stages
- Help providers recommend ways to reduce risk, including preventive care
- Help family members make lifestyle changes to reduce risk
- Inform a pregnant person (or someone considering pregnancy) about gene variants they have and what those variants mean for the fetus
How to talk to family members about their health history
It’s a good idea to talk to as many relatives as you can about your family health history. There could be information gaps or confusion about what people know. Ideally, it’s best to know two generations back (i.e., parents, aunts and uncles, and grandparents). Older family members are more likely to know about previous generations’ health conditions.
Health is a complicated topic. When talking about it with family, listen carefully, be patient and respectful. If someone does not want to talk about their health around others, ask whether you can talk with them in private. Remind them that knowing your family health history can help you and other relatives live better and longer. Some good questions to ask family members include:
- Do you have any chronic diseases, such as heart disease or diabetes , or health conditions, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol?
- How old were you when you developed symptoms or were diagnosed?
- Have you had any other serious diseases, such as stroke or cancer (and what type)?
- Has anyone else in our family had the same diseases or conditions?
- What is our ancestry? (Some diseases are more prevalent within certain ethnic groups.)
- Have you or any of our family members been tested for genetic mutations (cell changes)?
- How old were our relatives when they died? How did they die?
It helps clinicians to know how old your relative was when they were diagnosed with a disease or condition and whether they died from it, Dr. Koehly said. It helps your doctor determine when to screen you.
There are different ways to collect family health information:
- Choose one family member to collect all the health information from various relatives
- Have each relative fill out their own health record
- Create a checklist organized by medical conditions and ask whether anyone in the family has them
- Use a family group chat to ask questions and share information
By having these conversations, families can develop a culture of health and prevention.
“It's also important to empower people and their families to act, to do something, to engage in specific health behaviors, like screening at appropriate times and engaging in a healthier lifestyle,” Dr. Koehly said.
What if you can’t ask your relatives?
Genetic testing can be especially helpful to find out what conditions may run in your biological family. If your relatives can’t or don’t want to share their health history with you, direct-to-consumer genomics or ancestry companies are another option. These services may reveal unknown relatives to learn your family health history. If you were adopted or born using sperm/egg donation, adoption or donation agencies may be able to provide health records.
Talk to your health care provider about health screening guidelines for certain conditions, and tell them if you have any concerns about your risks.
No matter what health conditions you or your family have—and whether you know your family health history—preventive care is important. While you can’t change your genes, you can still practice healthy habits such as being active, eating a balanced diet, and staying smokefree.
Tools to help you keep track of your family health history
My Family Health Portrait is a downloadable tool that helps you create a family health history document. It was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NHGRI, and other partners.
NHGRI’s Families Sharing Health Assessment and Risk Evaluation (SHARE) initiative also has free online worksheets (available for PDF download) to help you understand your disease risk. These worksheets cover colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. You can also download SHARE workbooks in English, Spanish, Hausa, and Haitian Creole.
Whatever you use, Dr. Koehly said, remember to share it with your relatives! Make sure younger generations can access the family health history, add to it, and use it for their own health care decisions.
This article was originally published in 2019. It has been updated.
