Family trees are no longer just a display of crazy aunts, cousins thrice removed and great-grandfathers in stiff collars. They are also a rich picture of hereditary health risks that genetic testing and traditional consultations between patients and doctors often miss. That’s why the US government is encouraging Americans to assemble family health histories in a free computer program they can pass from relative to relative, share with medical professionals and make part of the front line of defence against hand-me-down diseases carried through generations.
The online program from the US surgeon general, called My Family Health Portrait, is rooted in the time-honoured habit of keeping up with relatives — a habit that appears to be fading. The government estimates that more than two-thirds of Americans don’t keep records of family health. That means missing clues at the intersection of genealogy and genetic medicine, like an uncle’s heart attack or a grandmother’s ovarian cancer, which may foretell health problems in descendants many years later.
Full article
Woodward, Cal, CMAJ, March 31, 2009; 180-7, 707, DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.090368
I run a Professional Genealogy company (www.meetyourfamily.co.uk) and as someone who also has Multiple Sclerosis, I think that the idea of people having a family health tree is a great idea. The ability to see a person’s full family medical history provides a better view of the situation and, forewarned is forearmed.