Crawford County Memorial Hospital recently issued the following announcement.
By learning and documenting your own family health history, you are taking the first step in helping to ensure a longer, healthier future together.
Why is Family Health History Important?
Beside the basic traits of hair and eye color that “run in” a family, other traits can be passed down from a parent to a child. Some common health conditions that can be inherited include:
- Arthritis
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Osteoporosis
- Stroke
- Some cancers
- Certain combinations of diseases within a family
- Diseases that occur at an earlier than expected age
- Disease in more than one close relative
- Disease that does not typically affect a specific gender (for example, breast cancer in a male)
Talk to your family. Write down the names of your close relatives from both sides of the family: parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. To find out about your risk for chronic diseases, ask your relatives about which of these diseases they have had and when they were diagnosed. Questions can include:
- Do you have any chronic diseases, such as heart disease or diabetes, or health conditions, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol?
- Have you had any other serious diseases, such as cancer or stroke? What type of cancer?
- How old were you when each of these diseases or health conditions was diagnosed? (If your relative doesn’t remember the exact age, knowing the approximate age is still useful.)
- What is your family’s ancestry? From what countries or regions did your ancestors come to the United States?
- What were the causes and ages of death for relatives who have died?
How to Use Your Family Health History
Share family health history information with your family medicine provider and other family members. Family health history information, even if incomplete, can help your family medicine provider decide which screening tests you need and when those tests should start.
If you have a medical condition, such as cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, be sure to let your family members know about your diagnosis. If you have had genetic testing done, share your results with your family members. If you are one of the older members of your family, you may know more about diseases and health conditions in your family, especially in relatives who are no longer living. Be sure to share this information with your younger relatives so that you may all benefit from knowing this family health history information.
Above all, understanding your family health history can help you make good lifestyle choices to help delay or eliminate the on-set of chronic or acute conditions. At your next check-up, if you are concerned about diseases that are common in your family, talk with your family medicine provider at your next visit. Even if you don’t know all of your family health history information, share what you do know. If you do not have a family medicine provider, contact the CCMH Medical Clinic at 712-265-2700.
Original source can be found here.
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