What Health Problems Lurk in Your Family Tree?

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As you create a family tree that you can share with your doctor and family members, focus on first-degree or blood relatives. “It doesn’t mean that there isn’t risk once you get into second-degree relatives, but you really should know the history of all your first-degree relatives: parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and grandparents,” Michos says.
           
Because many physicians ask questions about family health history during office visits, it helps to be prepared. A family medical tree can be as simple as writing a list or as elaborate as drawing an inverted pyramid, with yourself at the base, or an actual tree with branches. Be sure to include all four grandparents, your parents, and siblings. Jot down the names of your relatives and whether each relative has had the following problems, along with the age of onset:

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Diabetes
• Other cardiovascular disease