Collecting Family History To Prevent Disease

Many people collect their family history for a hobby. Did you know it might help save your life, too? Your doctor can use your family’s health history to help figure out your risk of developing cancer, heart disease, asthma, diabetes, depression, and many other diseases and conditions.

If you do not know your family’s health history, now is the time to start collecting it. A free tool called “My Family Health Portrait” can help by organizing your important health information into a printout you can take to your doctor and put in your medical record.

“The bottom line is that knowing your family history can save your life,” US Surgeon General Dr Richard H. Carmona explained in launching a campaign last year, called the Family History Initiative, to encourage all American families to learn more about their family health history. “Millions of dollars in medical research, equipment, and knowledge can’t give us the information.”

Gathering enough family history information to make useful predictions, however, isn’t always easy. Health care providers are often pressed for time and patients don’t know the details of what diseases run in their families. “My Family Health Portrait” can help you gather and record important health information before your medical appointments.

“My Family Health Portrait” is available in both electronic and print versions, in English and Spanish. If you use the electronic version, all personal information you enter is kept on the computer you’re using; none is available to the federal government or any other agency. After you enter details about your grandparents, parents, siblings, children, aunts, uncles, and cousins, the program will print a diagram that your health provider can use to design personalized diagnosis, treatment, and prevention plans.

“My Family Health Portrait” can be downloaded from the Department of Health & Human Services website at www.hhs.gov/familyhistory. If you don’t have a computer, call 888-Ask-HRSA (275-4772) and ask for “My Family Health Portrait” in English (ask for HRS00360) or Spanish (HRS00361).