Unearthing the Past That Could Affect Your Future: How Family Health History Could Change Your Life

By Bailey Kamp · Nov 2019

Biological families share genes, environments, and often lifestyles. Examining family health history can reveal patterns — diseases and conditions that "run in the family" — and allow healthcare providers to estimate your risk. For complex, common conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure, family history offers insight into the interaction of genetic and environmental factors in a way that no single test can.

What to Collect

Aim for at least three generations — grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings. For each person, collect: biological sex, date of birth, ethnicity, medical conditions, mental health conditions, age at diagnosis for each condition, pregnancy complications, lifestyle habits, and cause of death and age at death. A large family gathering like Thanksgiving is a natural opportunity to collect this information from multiple people at once.

When Access Is Limited

For adoptees or those with limited access to biological relatives, birth, marriage, and death records, church records, immigration records, wills, and the family bible can all be starting points. Explaining why you're asking, respecting privacy, and offering multiple ways for family members to respond can help navigate reluctance to discuss sensitive health information. Family health history is an important piece to bring into a genetic counseling session — and if you're not quite ready for a full appointment, a digital family history review is a good first step.