Why Family History

Why it's important to know your family health history.

Your family history might be the single, most important indicator of what diseases you are most susceptible to throughout your life and the ones closest to you.

There's no better time to start recording your family health history.

Why not begin recording your family health history right now? There are more and more diseases being uncovered today that are linked to our genes. This means some people (and their family members) are more susceptible to certain diseases than others. The key is knowing this information well before the onset of the disease, so that you can take steps now that will potentially delay the onset of the disease and ensure a longer, healthier lifestyle for both you and your loved ones.

family history record
“An accurate family history is a well established method to recognize genetic disorders and susceptibilities that may pose risks for future health problems. It remains one of the most powerful “genetic tests” to identify individuals at risk for inheritable disorders when laboratory tests are not available.”
American Medical Association Family Medical History in Disease Prevention
health history lifestyle

What is Preventive Healthcare?

Preventive healthcare can be summed up by taking proactive measures in regards to your health to prevent the occurrence of disease.  Your health is continually affected by many factors – your lifestyle choices, environment, diet, genetic makeup and predisposition to certain diseases to name a few.  Participating in ongoing screening tests with your healthcare provider and making healthy lifestyle choices will set you on a positive path toward preventing or delaying many diseases. 

The starting point for preparing to implement a preventive healthcare approach is to gather and record your family history. In order to know what you’re predisposed to, you need to have an accurate family health history. Start today by downloading the FamGenix app.

"Most people have a family health history of at least one chronic disease, such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. If you have a close family member with a chronic disease, you may be more likely to develop that disease yourself, especially if more than one close relative has (or had) the disease or a family member got the disease at a younger age than usual."
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Family Health History: The Basics

What is Precision Medicine?

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), precision medicine is “an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account an individual’s variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle”. To begin to assess someone’s genes and how it relates to their overall health, you must have an accurate family history of the patient. It’s not an option to not have the family history.

Over the last 20 years, there has been significant advancements in the field of genetics and it holds great promise in changing the way we deliver healthcare. It is widely accepted that the future of healthcare will be based on “precision medicine”.

precision medicine
"Precision medicine aims to go beyond “one-size-fits-all” health care, with treatments and prevention strategies tailored to each of us and the things that make us unique."
Eric Dishman Director, NIH Precision Medicine Initiative (All of Us)

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