What Health Problems Lurk in Your Family Tree?

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By Chrystle Fiedler

Inherited health risks can be spotted by examining your relatives' medical histories.

Your father’s goofy smile and your mother’s big brown eyes may not be the only traits your parents passed on to you. Heart disease and other health problems, like genetic characteristics, can run in families.
           
Tracking the health history of your siblings, parents, and other relatives is an important first step in creating a family health tree that can give you a clear picture of whether you are at risk for heart disease. The information provided will help your doctor guide you toward reducing your risk and will motivate you to take action.
           
A family health tree is like a medical crystal ball, says Erin Michos, M.D., a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. “It’s very important because you’re able to look ahead at what your risk is for heart disease,” Michos says. “A person’s risk is much greater when a family member has had a heart attack early in life.”
           
An early heart attack for a man is one that occurs before the age of 55; for a woman, it’s before 65. “If you have a parent who has had a premature event, your risk is twofold,” Michos says. “But if you have a sibling with premature heart disease or a coronary event, you are at two and a half times the risk.” Although some of that risk may be inherited, there also is a possibility that the risk is there because family members share meals and have the same poor dietary, exercise, or smoking habits.