HEALTH & BEAUTY
What's in Your Family DNA?
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When 46-year-old Efrat Roman went in for a breast MRI at age 40, the results confirmed her worst fears: She had cancer. She wasn’t surprised. Roman’s mother, grandmother, and several great-aunts had also had the disease. Knowing it ran in her family prompted Roman to be proactive about screenings. “I believe more knowledge is power,” says Roman, now a cancer survivor.
Sometimes, though, your family history isn’t so obvious. That’s what Karen Diaz, 34, found when her father was diagnosed with Factor V Leiden thrombophilia, a rare blood-clotting disorder. “I got tested, and discovered that I have the condition, too,” she says. Diaz now knows that because the disorder may prevent her body from dissolving blood clots, she’ll need to be closely monitored if she ever has surgery.
“Genetics have a big effect on your risk of acquiring countless conditions—from cancer to heart disease to diabetes,” says David Harrison, M.D., U.S. medical director for Best Doctors, a global health company based in Boston. This time of year offers a great opportunity to create a history. “When you get together with family, you relive memories, making it easy to ask about health issues,” says Kathryn Teng, M.D., director of the Center for Personalized Healthcare at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
Immediate family members like your parents and siblings are a good place to start. “This will get you 90 percent of the way,” Harrison says, adding that in most situations, it’s not necessary to go beyond aunts, uncles, and grandparents when you trace your medical lineage.
What are you looking for? Conditions that family members have been diagnosed with, ages at which they were diagnosed, and risk factors or behaviors—“if your mother had lung cancer, note whether she was a smoker,” Harrison says. You can also find out more about the countries of origin of your relatives, which can help you figure out what diseases your family might be prone to.
Once you have the information, share it with your family and update it yearly.
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