Expats spending time with family this holiday season should take the opportunity to find out about their family medical history.
Thanksgiving is one of America’s biggest annual holidays and marks the start of the holiday season. Many expats will have already made plans to travel home or receive loved ones at some point over the Christmas period. Health experts are urging families to use these gatherings to discuss family medical histories.
Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, sickle cell anaemia and other common diseases can run in families, said Dr LaMar Hasbrouck, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, told the State Journal Register.
The most important relatives in terms of medical history are your closest, so, your parents, siblings and children. Then you can widen the history to include aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, nieces and nephews and so on.
Questions about high blood pressure, chronic illness, cancer and diabetes could help pre-warn you should you have health problems in the future. Knowing about difficult pregnancies or how your mum or grandmother went through the menopause can also give you an idea of how these events may affect you.
Key things to look for in family medical history
- A disease which affects more than one close family member
- Diseases which occur earlier than normal (10 to 20 years before most people get the disease)
- A disease that doesn’t usually affect a certain gender (eg. breast cancer in a male relative)
- Certain combinations of disease within a family (eg. heart disease and diabetes or breast and ovarian cancer)
Once you have a good family medical history talking to your doctor about your findings can lead to regular screenings if necessary or lifestyle changes to limit your risk.
However, just because a certain disease or illness runs in your family doesn’t automatically mean you will develop it. Genetics isn’t the only reason we get ill, lifestyle and environmental factors also play a part. But, as the saying goes, forewarned is forearmed!