Family history (medicine)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In medicine, a family history consists of information about disorders that a patient's direct blood relatives have suffered from. Genealogy typically includes very little of the medical history of the family, but the medical history could be considered a specific subset of the total history of a family.
Knowledge of your family history can help identify a predisposition to develop certain illnesses, and enable you to avoid triggers in your environment.
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[edit] Uses
Although often neglected,[1] many doctors glean information on family morbidity of particular diseases (e.g. cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune disorders, mental disorders, diabetes, cancer) to appreciate whether a person is at risk for developing similar problems. Use of a genogram can be helpful in a family history, which is in the format of a family tree.
Family histories may be imprecise because of various possible reasons:
- Adoption or illegitimacy
- Lack of contact between close relatives
- Uncertainty about the relative's exact diagnosis
In complex situations, a family tree may be necessary to cover the necessary aspects.
Some medical conditions are carried only the female line, and tracing female ancestors can be very difficult. Women make up half our ancestors but every time a female ancestor married into a new family she left her surname behind and brought a fresh set of ancestors with her. It is not impossible to find details of your female line. Death records often give the maiden name of the deceased, and possibly also their mother’s maiden name. And some of the most useful records for tracing women are wills and probate records. For more useful articles on tracing female ancestors try www.myfamilyhistorybook.co.uk/read
[edit] Consequences
Not all positive family histories imply a genetic cause. If various members of the same family have been exposed to the same toxin, then they may develop similar symptoms without a genetic cause.
If a patient has a strong family history of a particular disorder (or group of disorders), this will generally lead to a lower threshold for investigating symptoms.
In diseases with a known hereditary component, many healthy people are now tested early to prevent the symptoms from developing. This has become accepted in cystic fibrosis, hemochromatosis and various other disorders.
[edit] Web-based Family Health History Tools
- My Family Health Portrait - Surgeon General
- Family Health History Tool - ItRunsInMyFamily.com
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[edit] References
- ^ Rich EC, Burke W, Heaton CJ, Haga S, Pinsky L, Short MP, Acheson L. Reconsidering the family history in primary care. J Gen Intern Med 2004;19:273-80. PMID 15009784.
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