When it comes to genetics, it’s not all about you; your entire family’s health history is important. There are many health conditions where someone’s risk to also develop that condition is determined by their family history. Because of this, it is important to try to gather as much information about your family health history as possible.
In general, it’s good to have information about your kids, grandkids, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, parents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Any information for relatives beyond that may also be helpful to have, particularly if they have any known health issues. It may be helpful to write this information down to have record of it and to share with other family members.
Any health condition is good to note, but pay extra attention to anyone with:
In genetics, family history information is recorded in a diagram called a pedigree:
In this diagram, circles represent women and squares represent men. Drawing out your family in this way can help identify patterns and provide a clearer picture of any health issues running in your family.
There are many reasons that someone may not have a lot of information about their family history: adoption, family dynamics, people move to different parts of the country and fall out of touch, etc. To get a full picture of someone’s risk for various health problems, it is important to have as much information as possible. When practical, it may be helpful to reach out to family members, or in cases of adoption, contact the adopting agency to see if there is any health information on file.
Having these conversations with relatives can be challenging at first. It may be helpful to begin by talking with a family member that you feel comfortable with to start gathering information. Talking to other relatives can help to fill in any gaps in information. It is important to feel as comfortable as possible having these conversations. One way to engage family members may be to point out that once all of this information is gathered in one place, it will be beneficial to everyone in the long run.
The March of Dimes has a general family history form that may be helpful to use to start gathering all of this information.
Schedule a personalized consultation with one of our certified genetic counselors.