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Medical History

We all know that certain medical problems "run in the family". With that in mind you should consider creating a medical history while collecting information for your genealogy research.

Information about your generation (you, your brothers & sisters), your parents and their siblings, and your grandparents and their siblings can help identify risks that may affect you or your children. You might also include your first cousins, but not any ancestors that you do not share. A medical history is about genetics; what tendencies - such as stroke, diabetes, cancers, etc - may have been passed on to you?

Since you only need to worry about 3 to 4 generations, collecting your medical history is easier than your genealogy project.

 

Getting Started

While collecting information for your genealogy research ask your parents, aunts & uncles, grandparents, and siblings (brothers & sisters) about medical conditions they have experienced. Collect everything they are willing to share to start and separate hereditary or potenially hereditary conditions from individual diseases, etc.

Make sure you ask about anyone who has already died. Don't just ask why the person died; ask what problems he or she had while alive. An uncle might have died in an accident but it could be important to know he had a heart condition.

You can also write to your state department of "vital records" to obtain a death certificate for individuals. These documents provide primary evidence in your genealogy research but they can also provide additional information for your medical history.

Remember, you only need to research 3 or 4 generations for your medical history.

The following list will help you get started:

  1. First, research your parents, children, and brothers and sisters. Next, research your grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces. The more blood relatives you include the more complete the picture will be.
  2. Interview other relatives to find out more. Keep a separate medical profile on each person.
  3. Search for any ailment, however minor, because you don't know what could be significant until you ask. Try to find out background information; if a limp was caused by a birth defect or a fall from a horse, the impact on the medical history is different. A medical dictionary of diseases and obsolete terms can be useful during this process.
  4. Pay special attention to cancers, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, depression, alcoholism, early death, etc. Write down the date or age when the problem developed and how long it lasted.
  5. Always ask: was it the cause of death?
  6. Organize the data into charts so you can see the medical history of several people at a time.
  7. Ask your family physician to review your medical tree for patterns of high risk conditions or how to improve your records (anything you missed).

Share the results with your family so they can know the risks too. Remember, your chart shows the risks to your brothers and sisters too.

Why is this important?

If your doctor finds patterns he or she may recommend tests for you or one or more of your relatives. Or your doctor may recommend changes in life style (avoid certain foods, additional exercises, etc.).

An on-going process

Keep the medical history up-to-date. If your brother or sister is diagnosed with a new condition, add it to the charts. Your medical history needs to change as you grow older and learn more about your family.

Who to include

For each person that you want to create a medical history for, you should collect medical information about the following:

  • The subject person
  • His or her brothers and sisters
  • His or her parents
  • His or her aunts and uncles
  • His or her grandparents
  • His or her grandparents brothers and sisters

To be completely thorough you might also include:

  • His or her first cousins... that is, the children of his or her aunts and uncles

Only 'natural' -- blood or genetic -- relationships are included. Adopted or foster children are not included.

What to record

For each person to be included in the medical history you need to record:

  • Demographic information
    • Name
    • Sex
    • List each marriage by date & Spouse name
    • Children names
  • Vital Statistics
    • Birth Date
    • Order of birth
    • Date of Death (if dead, of course)
  • Relation to subject person
  • Physical Description - eye color(s), natural hair color (before turning gray), height, average weight or build (heavy, average, slight), and any other distinguishing marks (e.g., large nose, web toes, etc)
  • List medical conditions that may be genetic; include any appropriate additional information, such as date of onset
    • Alcoholism
    • Alzheimer's Disease
    • Cystic Fibrosis
    • Diabetes
    • Down's Syndrome
    • Drug addiction (other than alcohol)
    • Heart Disease
      • Heart Attack
      • High or low blood pressure
    • Hemophilia
    • Huntingdon's Disease (St. Vitus' Dance or Chorea)
    • Obesity
    • Paralysis
    • Parkinson's Disease
    • Senile Dementia
    • Sickle Cell Anemia
    • Stroke, paresis

How to record

Use a medical form like the one below to keep your records straight:

  • Download · Format: MS-WORD (DOC) · Size: 32 KB

 

 

 
 

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