1. Family Health History
Health project

2. What is family Health history
This refers to information about disease and health conditions that affect you and your close blood relatives.
Family members share their genes and their environment, and sometimes their lifestyles and habits. A family health history helps determine if you are at an increased risk of disease because it reflects your genes and these other risk factors.

3. How can knowing help lower risk of disease
You can’t change your genes, but you can change behaviors that affect your health, such as smoking, being inactive, and having poor eating habits. If you have a personal or family history of chronic disease you may have the most to gain from making life-style changes.

4. Aspects of family health history affect my risk of disease
Everyone’s family health history is different. The key features that increase your risk are:
Disease that occur at an earlier age than expected (10-20 yrs most people get the disease)
Disease in more than one close relative
Disease that does not usually affect a certain gender (ex.. Breast cancer in males)
Certain combinations of disease within a family (ex. Breast cancer; ovarian cancer, or heart disease and diabetes)
Sometimes, a pattern of disease in a family may be a sign of a disease that is passed on from generation to generation

5. Project Step 1- family information:
Yourself/ Your siblings ( 2 at most) your parents / their siblings ( 2 at most) your grandparents on both sides & if possible your great grandparents.
Next to each family member’s name: write down everything you know about their health and medical history. DOB/ Death , medical illness /disease/ condition that they have or died from- if still living, ( or not) highlight either positive or negative health behaviors ( exercise, sleep, consumption of fatty foods etc. of which contributed or reduced their life or quality of life or took away from it ; examples of the tree ( layout) will be shown in class to demonstrate how this should look!

6. Information to be Included on the tree for each family member
Age or date of birth
Date of death for family
Members who have passed away
Height and weight
For those with medical problems: write down if obese, smoked, exercise habits, etc..
How old were they when they were diagnosed with condition
Where each side of family comes from originally (ex.. England, Germany etc..)
Medical conditions such as:
Cancer
Heart disease
Diabetes
Asthma
Mental illness
High blood pressure
Stroke
Kidney disease
Birth defects (spina bifida, cleft lip, heart defect)
Learning problems or mental retardation
Vision or hearing loss at a young age
Known genetic conditions, like cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease

7. 10 Questions to ask your family
What traits seem to run in our family?
Did my family members have any health problems?
How old were my family members when their health problems started or were diagnosed?
How old were my family members when they died
What were the reasons they died?
Where were my family members born?
Did any of my family members smoke? If yes, how much and for how long?
What other lifestyles habits did my family members have?
What types of allergies did my family members have?