In 2004, the Surgeon General of the United States declared Thanksgiving as National Family History Day. This declaration was made to help increase awareness of FHH as an important risk factor for common chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, and to promote a reduction of the burden these diseases have on the national population. In 2012, the CDC found that 96% of Americans believed that knowing their family history was important. Despite these findings, only one-third of Americans have ever tried to gather and record their family’s health history.
Because family health history is such a powerful screening tool, the Surgeon General has created an internet-based application called My Family Health Portrait to help make it fun and easy for anyone to create a sophisticated portrait of their family’s health. We have listed important things to consider while recording your Family Health History below.
While recording your Family Health History make sure you:
- Collect accurate health information from as many relatives as possible, preferably from those that are within at least three generations of you (i.e., grandparents, parents, siblings, children, aunts, uncles, and 1st cousins).
- Include major medical conditions or diagnoses such as cancer, any birth defects, heart disease, or intellectual and developmental disabilities. FHH should also include the year or age when the relative was diagnosed with the condition.
- For those relatives who have passed away, it should be noted when or at what age (or age range) the relative died and the cause of death (e.g., disease, complications of disease, or due to accident). If you’re unsure of the cause and age of death, try to obtain a death certificate, which can assist you greatly.
- Knowing your family’s pregnancy history (such as miscarriages, stillbirths, pregnancy /or birth complications, birth defects, and toxic exposures during pregnancy) from women or couples is also needed to correctly assess the possibility of any potential risks for future pregnancies in the family.
- Ethnic backgrounds for both sides of the family are also important as some genetic disorders may be more common in certain ethnic groups than in others.
Once you have assembled as much information as you can, if you want to find answers to any medical questions schedule a meeting with a Geneticist or Genetic Counselor to review the information and consider your questions.
