Marcie Anderson, 36, says she knows most of her family's health history just from chats about health issues they've faced. Any light conversation can easily turn into a talk about what happened at the doctor's office, which is how Anderson found out that her family has a history of diabetes and at least one relative had cancer, she said.
It was easy for her to relay that message to her doctor.
It is very important because "it's sort of like a window to see what you could be in for," she said.
Experts say it's important to know your health history, so your doctor has a more accurate picture of what diseases you could develop and what preventative actions to take.
"Family history plays a significant role in predicting diseases," said Dr. John Andazola, program director at the Southern New Mexico Family Medicine Residency Program. "If you know your history and your risk, you can help your doctor and remind them to test you for these things earlier." Some diseases pose an especially elevated risk to those with a family history, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Diabetes
It is found more in people of Hispanic and American Indian descent, but nearly 26 million people have diabetes, and 7 million don't know they have it and are at risk. Diabetes is the leading cause of limb amputations, blindness and kidney failure, heart disease and stroke. It is also the seventh-leading cause of death in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
If you someone in your family has diabetes, you could be at risk for the disease, too. Relaying this important information to your doctor, so he or she can pay closer attention to your blood sugar levels, test you more often and test you for more diseases for which diabetes puts you at greater risk.
This gives doctors a chance to prevent the disease by suggesting you not eat certain foods, prescribing medications or encouraging you to become more active in certain ways, Andazola said.
There is an increasing number of children who are being diagnosed earlier with diabetes due to the combination of family history, lack of exercise and a ready supply of fast foods at every street corner. Knowing health history and eating and exercise habits could prevent this, Andazola.
Heart disease
"If you have family that have heart disease, you have a risk of getting heart disease," Andazola said.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death, at 26 percent of all deaths in the nation. About 785,000 people have a heart attack and another 470,000 have two or more heart attacks. Caucasians and African Americans die from heart disease more than other ethnicities, according to the CDC.
What causes the body to lay plaque down in the arteries, a buildup that leads to a heart attack, is genetic. So some people can be in good shape, with a healthy weight, but they may have high blood pressure and are at risk for heart disease, Andazola said.
A blood test can determine if you have the disease or are at risk for it. Again, if you doctor knows your family history, they can start tests early, giving you a chance to avoid the disease altogether.
With heart disease, the major risk factors are not being active, being obese, having high blood pressure, tobacco use and high cholesterol, according to the CDC.
"A lot of these diseases, we can prevent or treat to reduce the risk," Andazola said.
Cancer
Cancer can strike at anyone. But there is a chance to prevent it if your doctor knows about your family and personal history. If someone in your immediate family has it — parents and siblings — you have a greater risk of developing breast, ovarian or colon cancer than if it was a great-aunt or a grandfather who had it, Andazola.
A higher risk of breast cancer comes from mutated BRCA1 and BRCA2 (breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 and 2) genes that are otherwise known as tumor suppressers — when mutated, they are known to cause hereditary cancer. In 2007, 202,964 women were diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,598 died from it, according to cancer.gov.
"We know a lot of genetics," Andazola said. "And that plays a lot in everything."
When a doctor knows about the members of your family who have cancer, he or she can start testing you, which gives them a greater chance to catch it early, take action and beat it.
Staying physically fit, maintaining a healthy weight and limiting the amount of alcohol you drink can help reduce your risk, as well, according to cancer.gov.
Knowledge is power
There are many hereditary diseases out there, some of which cannot be helped, but some can be cured or treated if a doctor knows about your personal and family history.
It is not uncommon for a person to know nothing of their family and personal history, Andazola said, recalling a time he asked a patient about a surgery and the patient didn't know any specific details about it.
Andazola knows that most people don't want to go to the doctor's office to be poked and prodded. Most screenings require some blood, or a mammogram, an x-ray or CAT scan. But they are good things, and you should just bite down and do it, because it may save your life, Andazola said.
People also need to be proactive and ask their family members what ails them. The Surgeon General established a public health campaign called the National Family History Day that coincides with Thanksgiving. She encourages people to talk about their health history during all family gatherings such as Christmas, birthdays or graduations.
There is even a website — familyhistory.hhs.gov — that is supported by the Surgeon General's Office and set up especially to make documenting your history much easier and printable, so you can hand it to your doctor during your next checkup.
Andi Murphy can be reached at (575) 541-5453
Talk about it
Since 2004, the Surgeon General has declared that Thanksgiving also be recognized as National Family History Day, a day to get together and talk about health history and document it. "My Family Health Portrait," a website, has been created to make the task easier: familyhistory.hhs.gov. After completing the history of illnesses and diseases that are in the family, you can print out a family tree for your doctor to look at next time you go in for a checkup.