Asking about your Family Health History on Father’s Day

CLEVELAND – Knowing what health issues run in your family can help prevent or treat chronic diseases.

And getting together with your family to celebrate holidays, like Father’s Day, can be a good time to check up on your family health history.

“Your family health history is important, and it’s often overlooked. It can help inform decision-making between you and your healthcare team about when certain screenings should be done as well as managing chronic diseases in a different way if certain problems run in your family,” explained Cory Fisher, DO, a family medicine doctor at Cleveland Clinic.

When it comes to your family health history, Dr. Fisher said the more information you can get the better.

Asking your dad and other first-degree relatives is a good place to start – but any health information you can gather from your grandparents, uncles and aunts can be helpful as well.

Dr. Fisher said it’s crucial for everyone to be aware of a history of cardiovascular disease since it impacts nearly half of all adults in the United States.

It’s also useful to know if certain cancers run in your family, as earlier initial screenings may be recommended due to an increased risk.

For example, men are two to three times more likely to get prostate cancer if their father or another close relative has the disease.

“Health screenings are vitally important. Most of the pushback I get about cancer screenings, specifically, is patients may not feel a test is necessary if they don’t have any symptoms,” Dr. Fisher said. “But the key to screening tests is catching disease early. If we find something during a screening test when you’re asymptomatic, it’s much more likely to be treatable.”

Dr. Fisher said it’s key to establish a good relationship with your primary care doctor and review your family health history during annual physicals.