1. Family History is Important for Your Health
The U.S. Surgeon General’s
Family History Initiative

2. What determines your risk for disease?

3. Risk Factors
A risk factor increases your risk of developing a disease or health problem.
Environment
Behaviors and lifestyle
Genes

4. Risk Factors for Disease
Environment
Environmental risk factors include exposures to harmful agents in food, water and air.

5. Risk Factors for Disease
Behaviors and lifestyle
Behavioral and lifestyle risk factors include poor diet, lack of physical activity, smoking, abuse of alcohol, and failure to get recommended screening tests.

6. Risk Factors for Disease
Genes
Genes provide the directions for building all of the proteins that make our bodies function. Genes are passed down by parents to their offspring. Some genes may not function properly leading to disease.

7. Risk Factors for Disease
Genes, environment, and behaviors
interact with each other to cause disease.
Behaviors
Interaction
Genes
Environment

8. Family History Risk Factors for Disease Behaviors Genes Environment
Family history helps capture the effects
of these interactions on disease risk.
Behaviors
Family History
Genes
Environment

9. What is family history?
A family’s combination of shared genes, environment, behavior, and culture

10. We all have a family history of something!
depression
heart disease
asthma
leanness
high cholesterol
kidney disease
cancer
diabetes
Alzheimer’s
allergies
obesity
stroke
blue eyes
curly hair
high blood pressure
emphysema
arthritis
osteoporosis
acne
athleticism

11. Family history is a risk factor for diseases throughout all stages of life
diabetes
depression
Alzheimer’s disease
osteoporosis
birth defects
blood disorders
infants
adolescents
older adults
children
adults
asthma
autism
cancer
heart disease

12. How can your family history help you?
Learn about diseases that run in your family
Take advantage of screening tests that can detect disease at an early stage when it is most treatable
Change unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, inactivity and poor eating habits

13. How can you collect your family history?
Ask questions
Talk at family gatherings
Draw a family tree
Write down the information
Look at death certificates, family medical records, etc.

14. What information do you need?
Major medical conditions and causes of death
Age family member developed disease and age at death
Ethnic background
General lifestyle factors like heavy drinking and smoking
Example:
Uncle Bill – smoked cigarettes since he was a teenager,
had a heart attack at age 52

15. What relatives should be included?
you
children
siblings
parents
grandparents
aunts and uncles
nieces and nephews

16. What should you do with the information?
Organize the information
Share it with your health professional
Keep it updated
Pass it on to your children

17. How health professionals organize family history
grand-parents
grand-parents
parents
aunts & uncles
siblings
you
children
nieces & nephews
To learn to draw a family tree like this, go to

18. What will your health professional do with the information?
Determine your risk for disease based on:
- number of family members with the disease
- the age when they were diagnosed - how you are related to the family member
Consider other disease risk factors
Recommend screening tests and lifestyle changes

19. Shirley wonders about her risk for diabetes
An example
Shirley wonders about her risk for diabetes
Both of Shirley’s parents developed diabetes by the time they were 60
Shirley knows she doesn’t always eat right and she is overweight. She is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 175 pounds.
With these risk factors - family history, overweight, poor diet – should Shirley be concerned about diabetes?

20. Shirley’s Family History
An example
Shirley’s Family History
Shirley has heard that diabetes can run in the family, so she asked her health professional to assess her risk.
Shirley’s doctor
Family history Assessment recommends:
Diabetes: Strong Risk - losing weight, eating a healthy
mother, 43 yrs diet and increasing physical activity
father, 59 yrs regular blood sugar screening
uncle, 50 yrs (father’s side)
aunt, 59 yrs (father’s side)
Heart Disease: Moderate Risk - losing weight, eating a healthy
mother, 66 yrs diet and increasing physical activity
uncle, 68 yrs (mother’s side) regular cholesterol screening
- regular blood pressure screening possibly take aspirin regularly

21. An example How did Shirley’s family history help her?
She learned that she had increased risk for diabetes and heart disease. Her family history was a risk factor, in addition to her weight.
Shirley started getting more regular screenings for
blood sugar
blood pressure and
cholesterol
She talked to her health professional about losing weight through healthy eating and physical activity programs that were right for her.

22. People with a family history of disease may have the most to gain from lifestyle changes and screening tests!

23. Do people care about their family health history?
In a CDC-based survey of over 4,000 individuals:
97% thought that knowledge of family health history was important
But, only 30% had actually ever collected health information from relatives to develop a family health history.
Healthstyles Survey, 2004

24. Goals of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Family History Initiative
Increase awareness among the public and health professionals of the value of family history for disease prevention.
Provide new tools to gather information, assess risk, and guide prevention strategies.
Increase genomics and health literacy.
Prepare the public and health professionals for the coming era in which genomics will be an integral part of regular health care.

25. A free web-based tool for collecting family history, available in both English and Spanish, can be accessed from:

26. My Family Health Portrait: Print Version
Free print version also available in English and Spanish
Call: or visit

27. U.S. Surgeon General’s Family History Initiative
A collaboration of the following federal agencies:

28. Family History Resources
U.S. Surgeon General’s Family History Initiative
CDC, Office of Genomics and Disease Prevention

29. Prevention is Primary… Create Your Family’s Future!