Your family history is more than knowing your relatives' names. It includes important information about the diseases and health conditions that have affected your family, when they occurred, and sometimes what caused a relative's death.
Knowing this information can help you and your healthcare provider understand possible health risks and decide whether you need certain preventive measures or screening earlier than usual. Many people overlook this, but it is one of the simplest tools for early disease prevention.
Why Family Health History Matters
You share genes with your biological relatives. Families may also share similar eating habits, physical activity patterns, environments, and other factors that can influence health. For example, having close relatives with conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, or osteoporosis may increase your own risk of developing those conditions.
However, having a family history does not mean that you will definitely develop the disease. It simply provides useful information about your risk. It is important to learn about both sides of your family, including your parents, brothers and sisters, children, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and nieces and nephews.
“Knowing your family health history can help your healthcare provider understand your possible health risks.”
This statement highlights why doctors always ask about family history during checkups. It helps them decide if you need earlier screening or additional tests compared to people without a family history of a particular condition.
What Information Should You Collect
When speaking with relatives, do not just ask if anyone in the family has a disease. Try to find out what condition they had, at what age they were diagnosed, how serious the condition was, whether they are still living, and if they died, what was the cause and approximately what age they were. Also note if several relatives had the same condition or if anyone was diagnosed unusually young. Even an approximate age can be useful.
You should pay attention to important conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, high cholesterol, cancer, kidney disease, osteoporosis, and certain inherited conditions. For some cancers like breast, ovarian, uterine, and colorectal cancers, family history is particularly important and may lead to earlier screening or genetic counselling.
How to Use Your Family History to Take Action
Family health history can also be important when planning a pregnancy and for understanding your children's health risks. Parents should preserve important health information from both sides of the family for their children. Do not rely completely on memory. Create a simple family health record containing relative, condition, age at diagnosis, current status or age at death, and cause of death.
To start the conversation, choose an appropriate time and explain why you are asking. You can say you are trying to learn more about your family's health history to take better care of yourself. Learning that a disease runs in your family can be worrying, but risk is not the same as certainty. You cannot change your genes, but you can make healthier choices, stay physically active, avoid tobacco, maintain a healthy weight, and attend recommended check-ups.
M2NICE Editorial Note: Many Nigerians only discuss family health history when someone is already sick. Creating a written record now makes it easier during hospital visits. Keep your record on your phone where you can easily show it to your doctor during consultation, especially if you have a family history of hypertension or diabetes which are common.
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