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Outlining your family medical history can help identify health risks you may face in the years ahead and help you find ways to avoid or plan for them. Such records only work for blood relatives for obvious reasons.

A family medical history is a record of illnesses your family may have had over generations. It can be as simple or detailed as you wish. Family reunions are great for digging out this kind of information from everyone there, if you can find a quiet moment and private place to ask questions. Or you can mail a survey sheet to them all. Be sure to include an s.a.e. The larger the family, the easier it is to build up an accurate tree. It's the next best thing to genetic testing.

Your doctor can use a family medical history for several things, including: diagnosing a medical condition; deciding what medical tests to run; determining your risk of certain diseases, and whether preventive measures might lower that risk; identifying other at risk members in your family; and calculating the chance of passing certain conditions to your descendants.

Knowing your medical risks doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get Great Aunt Sarah's cancer. The chance of avoiding certain ailments increases depending on lifestyle, healthy diet, exercise, and a good mental attitude.

Some questions you need to ask could include the following:

What major diseases has the family experienced? Heart disease, depression, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, blindness and deafness are a few. At what age were these diseases or conditions diagnosed, and was treatment successful? Did the patient smoke, drink alcohol, or do drugs?

What date was the disease diagnosed?

Is there a record of learning disabilities, birth defects, or mental retardation in the family health history?

Do any family members have conditions such as asthma, allergies, migraines or frequent colds?

What is the family's racial and ethnic background? Some diseases are more common among members of certain races.

Has anyone suffered infertility, stillbirths, miscarriages, or infant deaths in the family? Was a cause diagnosed?

Is there any other relevant information that comes to mind that should be included?

Death certificates from the state health department are another good place to gather information, because they usually state the cause of death. Family records might be available, which could include letters, census records or obituaries.

Try using tact when seeking this kind of information. Explaining the reason you need it always helps. Respect for privacy usually brings better results because family can then trust you if they know you don't intend to gossip about whatever health issue they may be embarrassed to share.

Learn more about this author, Anne Bradshaw.
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