Your family is one of the greatest indicators of your health and the health of future generations. Knowing your family health history can help you identify diseases and conditions that might be hereditary, but it also helps you better understand your risks and the risks to your children.
What Is a Family Health History?
A family history refers to all pertinent information about the health status of your parents, siblings, and other relatives. Information includes the age at diagnosis, any treatments or surgeries involved, and whether they have passed away from any of these diseases.
What Can Your Family History Tell You?
Several diseases and conditions can affect you or your family members. Knowing this information is vital to help you identify any risks associated with these diseases and how they could be passed down through generations.
Some common illnesses often included in family medical history include:
- Heart disease
- Cancer (breast, ovarian, colon)
- Diabetes
- Hemophilia
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
What You Should Know About Yourself When Maintaining a Family Health History
When you are looking over your family’s medical history, it is also essential to consider your health. Knowing this information can help you better prepare for any possible future risks and help you seek out potential illnesses or complications.
Some of these can include:
- Risk of cardiovascular disease
- Risk of cancer
- Bone density loss in women after menopause
- Obesity and diabetes risk in children and adults
How to Maintain a Family Health History
It is best if family history information is read from an original source. You can ask a close relative to share this information with you or, if they cannot recall the data, it can be traced back through archived medical records.
Keeping your family’s health history updated will help keep track of when relatives were diagnosed and their treatments. It is best to keep cumulative medical reports from multiple sources in a single binder or folder, rather than long sheets of paper strewn about that are difficult to organize.
By maintaining an organized family health history, you can better identify any risks associated with the conditions in your genetic lineage and be prepared for what may come.