Publix GreenWise Market Magazine - December 2008
Relative-ly Healthy
Getting to the root of medical conditions in your family tree can help you have a healthier future.
 When 8-year-old Katlin began waking at night feeling thirsty and needing to use the bathroom, her parents might have brushed off her symptoms—had they not been aware of their family medical history. “My husband has type 1 diabetes in his family, so he immediately thought of diabetes,” says Katlin’s mom, Shirley DeAngelis of Greer, South Carolina.
Shirley scheduled an appointment with the pediatrician, but before the date arrived, Katlin’s constant fatigue and sudden weight loss—she dropped 15 pounds in two weeks—frightened her parents so much that they took her to the hospital. There they learned that her blood sugar was dangerously high.
Katlin was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2003. Today her diabetes is under control, but the incident made Shirley realize the importance of a family medical history. “If you start getting sick and tell your doctor about your family history, he’s going to figure out what’s wrong a lot sooner.”
Plus, knowing about Katlin’s diabetes has put the family on alert. “We know that Katlin’s twin sister, Sydney, has a 75 percent chance of getting juvenile diabetes, so we watch her like a hawk,” Shirley says.
YOUR MEDICAL FAMILY TREE
Sometimes a family history of one disease can offer unexpected insights into your risk of developing another. For example, autoimmune disorders such as Katlin’s type 1 diabetes tend to cluster in families as different diseases. One family member might have celiac disease, another rheumatoid arthritis and still another ulcerative colitis. In such families, scientists believe that multiple genes combine to increase the general susceptibility to autoimmune problems. (You can learn more at the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association website, aarda.org.) “Your family medical history is like a crystal ball that provides a glimpse of your potential future,” says Davis Liu, M.D., author of Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely (Stetho Publishing, 2008). “If you know your family’s medical tendencies, you can work proactively with your doctor and possibly have a different outcome.”
Your family’s background can also affect how your doctor approaches your care. “A patient’s family medical history guides what I do in terms of screening, prevention and education,” says David Donnersberger, M.D., assistant professor of clinical medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Someone with a family history of skin cancer, for example, may need to be examined by a dermatologist more frequently than usual, while a woman with ovarian cancer in her background may get a transvaginal ultrasound.
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BE A HEALTH GENEALOGIST
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, more than 96 percent of Americans believe it’s important to know their family medical history, yet only one-third have ever tried to gather and record this information. With family holiday gatherings on the calendar, you have the perfect opportunity to collect data about your relatives. “If you feel uncomfortable asking, blame it on your doctor,” suggests Liu. “It may feel less intrusive if you say, ‘My doctor wants me to ask so he can take better care of me.’”
Start with first-degree relatives—parents, siblings and children. They’re the most genetically related to you, says Liu. It can also be helpful to gather information about grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.
“In most cases, second- and third-degree relatives don’t determine your risk factors or guide what screenings are done, but they can inform your doctor about tendencies in your family,” says Donnersberger.
WHAT TO ASK
You’ll definitely want to know about a history of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes. It also helps to know about osteoporosis, arthritis and thyroid disorders. Asking a relative if he or she has had any surgeries or takes any medication regularly may reveal other conditions, notes Liu.
But it’s not only classic medical illnesses that run in families. Several psychological or behavioral disorders seem to have a genetic component—attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, depression, learning disabilities and stuttering, to name just a few. And children of alcoholics are four times more likely than the general population to have alcohol problems themselves.
Once you get your relatives talking, you’ll want to note:
- How old was the person when the condition was first diagnosed?
- How severe was the condition?
- What was the treatment? You don’t need to know specific medications. But with cancer, for example, it can be helpful to know whether surgery was sufficient or whether the person needed chemotherapy and/or radiation.
- What was the outcome? Did the person survive the illness?
- When it comes to cancer, what was the primary cancer?
HOW TO USE IT
After you’ve gathered and recorded this information, share it with all your health-care providers, as well as the physicians who care for your children or aging parents.
Update the family medical history annually. And once your children are grown, pass copies along to them so they can start keeping records of their own. It’s one gift that will last a lifetime.
LEARN MORE: Ready to get started? The Surgeon General’s My Family Health Portrait gives you a simple way to create your medical family tree. Go to familyhistory.hhs.gov.
Family Ties
Your risk of many diseases goes up significantly if one or both parents have it.
In most cases small variations in multiple genes interact with lifestyle and environmental factors to determine who actually gets sick. While you can’t choose your parents, you can choose to use your genetic inheritance wisely by taking preventive steps and/or seeking treatment early.
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| Risk of developing a disease |
If one parents has it |
If both parents have it |
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| Allergies |
48% |
70% |
| Bipolar disorder |
I15-30% |
50-75% |
| Migraines |
50% |
75% |
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