Family history and genetic testing are two sides of the same coin
Your family health history holds valuable information and can be an important starting point for understanding your health risks. Genetic testing is highly complementary to family history because it examines the individual at the molecular level. Family history captures observable information – what we can see and learn from our physical or biochemical characteristics. Genetic information takes us into a realm of what we can’t see – our genetic characteristics. In the same way blue eyes may skip several generations, so too might heart disease, diabetes or other conditions that do not always appear in our known family history.
Thanks to scientific and medical advances, we know more about disease than ever before and can appreciate its complexities.
Some health conditions are easier to trace: Because of the complex ways that many condition-related markers are inherited, your family history may not reveal all the important DNA traits you carry. Some health conditions are easier to trace through a family. If many people in your family develop a particular form of cancer, for example, you are more likely to be at increased risk yourself.
Other health conditions are harder to recognize: But many health conditions surface less often, making risks harder to recognize. If someone in your mother's family developed lupus two generations ago, and someone in your father's family also developed the autoimmune disorder three generations back, you may have inherited an increased risk yourself. This risk may be harder to detect by looking at the health of your immediate family.
For many of us, family history also holds more questions than answers. Some family health conditions may not have been discussed or recognized as a shared concern. Your mother's family may have a few members with diabetes, but no one might have realized some of their risk was genetic. Family health knowledge often has gaps, or can be vague or even incorrect. You might know your grandfather died of heart trouble, for example, but not know the specifics of his condition that could inform your own health risks.