Being proactive about your health means more than yearly checkups. Knowing your family’s health history plays a big part, too.
“Knowledge is power,” says Elizabeth Cherot, MD, president and CEO of March of Dimes. “Your family health history helps you find out about the medical conditions that run in your family that may affect you and your children.”
Learning the issues that you and your loved ones are at risk for can help you make lifestyle changes to protect your health. You’ll know to be on the lookout for early symptoms. And it can help your doctor decide whether to do screening tests or start treatment.
Your family health history matters whether or not you have kids of your own. It’s a helpful tool to have at any age. “It ... can really empower you as a patient to help with your outcomes,” Cherot says.
Steps to Take
To collect your own family health history:
Know what you’re looking for. Your family health history should include details about:
- You
- Your parents
- Siblings
- Children
It’s also helpful to try to gather details about:
- Second-degree relatives (grandparents, aunts and uncles, and nieces and nephews)
- Third-degree relatives (great-grandparents, great-aunts and great-uncles, and first cousins)
Include info about each person’s:
- Age, or age at the time of their death
- Ethnicity (some ethnic groups have a higher risk of certain health conditions)
- Health issues (like high blood pressure)
- Major medical events (like a heart attack)
- Age they were diagnosed with any conditions
Talk to family members. Not everyone wants to talk about their health or how a loved one passed away. It could bring back trauma or memories of unhappy times. To ease into the topic, “Approach family members one on one instead of in a big group,” Cherot says. “Tell them why you're asking, why it's important to you, and that you’re hoping that they're willing to share.”
Know what to ask. If a loved one agrees to talk, ask questions like:
- Do you have any health conditions?
- Can you tell me about any serious health events, like a stroke, that you’ve had?
- How old were you when they happened?
- What countries were our relatives from?
- Do you know when our relatives died, and the causes of their deaths? How old were they?
Make it easy. You can get a free family health history forms from your doctor or online through:
- The American Medical Association
- The Office of the Surgeon General
- Hospitals and health care systems
Fill out your own copy, then give a copy to family members and ask them to do the same. Compile all the information once you have it.
Include all details. Don’t discount any health details, even if it’s a note scribbled on the back of an old photo. “Your health providers can decide whether or not it’s relevant and whether it's worth investigating more,” Cherot says.
Request records. To learn more about a family member’s death, request a copy of a death certificate from their state’s health department. This document often includes age and cause of death. If the person allowed you legal access to their medical records before they passed away, you can submit a written request to their doctor or hospital.
Keep it updated. Your family’s health history is a “moving, living thing,” Cherot says. “It's super important to keep it updated, just like you update your medications or your allergy list.” Always bring it with you to new doctor visits.
What to Do With Your Family Health History
Talk with your doctor about how to use the information you collect. For instance, if you learn that you have a parent who had colon cancer before the age of 50, your doctor may decide to screen you for it earlier than usual.
“It’s worth taking the time to go through your history and ask questions about it,” Cherot says. “Does this affect anything in the future?”
Finding out that a health issue runs in your family can feel unsettling. But it’s not uncommon. And it doesn’t mean that you or your child will have it, too.
If you learn something that concerns you, try not to search it online, Cherot advises. Instead, bring it up with someone who can help put it in context, like a genetic counselor. “They can help you understand how medical conditions that run in your family can affect your health and your family's health,” Cherot says.
A genetic counselor can also help you decide whether to do genetic testing and what the results mean.
Your doctor can refer you to a genetic counselor or you can find a one through the National Society of Genetic Counselors.
How Much Can an at-home DNA Test Kit Help?
At-home test kits can help to figure out your risk of getting some genetic conditions by analyzing a sample of your saliva. But there can be drawbacks:
Only a limited number of genes are tested. Results from an at-home kit aren’t as thorough as a genetic test done by a medical professional.
No guidance. Your results may show that you have an increased risk of breast cancer. But you won’t get advice about what to do next -- it can’t recommend if or when you should have a mammogram or other type of screening.
Security and privacy. Some test kit companies have had serious data breaches and been unable to keep data private and secure.
If you decide to use an at-home kit, plan ahead of time to speak to your doctor or a genetic counselor about the results.
What If You’re Adopted?
“There's an assumption that adoptees don’t have a relationship with their birth family, but many, many adults do,” says Ryan Hanlon, president and CEO of National Council for Adoption. If you’re adopted and that’s the case, you can go to your birth family or other biological family members and get the health information you’re looking for.
If you don’t know any blood relatives, contact the state where your adoption took place. “In some cases, you might need to petition a court and the state to allow access to adoption records,” Hanlon says. Hiring a private investigator to do searches is another option. So is genetic testing.
Looking for your family’s health history may bring up feelings of loss and grief, Hanlon says, especially if your search is due to a medical emergency happening to you or your child.
Make sure your doctors understand that you’re adopted and might not have a complete family health history. “Talk to them about what that might mean and what their recommendations are,” Hanlon says.
A counselor, especially one who’s trained in adoption issues, can help you talk through any feelings that come up.
Show Sources
Photo Credit: E+/Getty Images
SOURCES:
Elizabeth Cherot, MD, president and CEO, March of Dimes.
Ryan Hanlon, president and CEO, National Council for Adoption.
CDC: “Family Health History: The Basics,” “Family Health History Checklist: Adults.”
UT Southwestern Medical Center: “Family History: Guide for Health Pros.”
American Medical Association: “Collecting a family history.”
National Society of Genetic Medical Counselors: “About Genetic Counselors.”
PennState: “The Medical Minute: How to discuss family health history with children.”
MD Anderson Cancer Center: “Do at-home genetic tests work?”
Federal Trade Commission: “Privacy and security of genetic information: Putting DNA companies to the test.”
Office of the Surgeon General: “My Family Health Portrait.”
Medline Plus: “What are the benefits and risks of direct-to-consumer genetic testing?”
