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This Thanksgiving, start a new tradition to protect your family’s health.
Thanksgiving is National Family History Day. Knowing your family health history— important medical information about you and your family members— can tell you what health problems you might be at risk for and what you can do to reduce your risk. Diseases that run in families are often connected to certain genes. Some are based on single gene mutations, while others are based on a combination of multiple genes and factors. Many genetic mutations occur more frequently in specific ethnic groups than in the general population, so learning about your family history, such as your ancestors’ countries of origin, can help you find out if you are at risk for certain diseases.
How to Start
Talk to your family!
*Start a dialogue with family members about your lineage and how health conditions have affected your family tree.
*Gather health information about children, siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews.
Ask questions!
*Ask about major medical conditions, cause and age of death, and age of disease onset. If possible, look at death certificates and family medical records.
*Ask about your ethnic background. What part of the world did your ancestors come from? Are you Ashkenazi or Sephardi? What diseases are common in these ethnic groups?
*Remember to ask about environmental factors. Families share more than genes; they share lifestyles and routines, from inactivity and smoking to healthy eating habits and low levels of stress. What aspects of your family’s lifestyle can contribute to health problems?
Write it down!
*Record your family’s information, organize it, and draw a family tree.
*Update your family health history every year. Make Thanksgiving an annual date for checking in with your family about health.
Pass it on!
*Take what you learned from each other and share it with your doctor. Ask your doctor what kinds of lifestyle changes your family can make and what kinds of screenings are available to help you improve and protect your health.
*Pass on your new tradition and family health history to your children. Give thanks for your family and share the idea with friends.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
The use of family history as a tool for assessing a patient’s risk of disease and implementing early detection and prevention strategies is not new. Geneticists have long used the family history in their research and practice. Family history is the "tried-and-true" method of collecting information about an individual’s personal risks, according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that was co-authored by former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona. Dr. Carmona and his colleagues believe family history will continue to be a worthwhile practice even when more "modern" tools are available for determining genetic risks. As Dr. Carmona and his colleagues note in the New England Journal of Medicine, "most diseases are the result of the interactions of multiple genes and environmental factors. Although these interactions are complex, almost every patient today has access to a free, well-proven, personalized genomic tool that... can serve as the cornerstone for individualized disease prevention. This valuable tool is the family history."
Click here for a printable version of the 2007 Thanksgiving Family History Project
Click here for a printable version of the 2006 Thanksgiving Family History Project
Click here to read an article on Family History in the New England Journal of Medicine
For more information about family history visit:
http://www.cdc.gov/genomics/public/famhistMain.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/genomics/public/file/print/FamHistFactSheet.pdf (opens a printable fact sheet)
http://www.migeneticsconnection.org/
http://www.michigan.gov/mdch
http://www.hhs.gov/familyhistory/
http://www.geneticalliance.org/ws_display.asp?filter=fhh
https://familyhistory.hhs.gov/
The Thanksgiving Family History Project is a cooperative effort of the Chicago Center for Jewish Genetic Disorders and the Community Foundation for Jewish Education, support foundations of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
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