How to write down your family health history
Write down your family health history by listing parents, siblings, children, grandparents, aunts and uncles, then noting major conditions for each and the age they were diagnosed. Focus on heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancers, and mental health conditions. Ages matter as much as the condition. Keep it on one page, update it when you learn something new, and share it with your clinician.
Why it matters: It can change when your screenings start, and it takes a few conversations.
Steps
- Draw three rows: grandparents, parents with aunts and uncles, and siblings with children.
- For each person, note major conditions and the age at diagnosis.
- Note the age and cause of death for relatives who have died, if known.
- Ask relatives gently, framing it as something your doctor asked you to collect.
- Mark anything diagnosed unusually young, such as heart disease or cancer before 50.
- Keep a copy in your document vault and give one to your clinician.
- Update it after family news.
Common mistakes
- Writing cancer without the type, which is what changes screening.
- Leaving out the age at diagnosis.
- Assuming a condition on your father's side does not matter for you.
Teach this to someone
A one page sheet for showing a friend, a teenager or a parent: what to say, what to show, and one question to check it landed.
Teach: How to write down your family health history
What to say
Write down your family health history by listing parents, siblings, children, grandparents, aunts and uncles, then noting major conditions for each and the age they were diagnosed. Focus on heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancers, and mental health conditions. Ages matter as much as the condition. Keep it on one page, update it when you learn something new, and share it with your clinician.
What to show
- Draw three rows: grandparents, parents with aunts and uncles, and siblings with children.
- For each person, note major conditions and the age at diagnosis.
- Note the age and cause of death for relatives who have died, if known.
- Ask relatives gently, framing it as something your doctor asked you to collect.
- Mark anything diagnosed unusually young, such as heart disease or cancer before 50.
- Keep a copy in your document vault and give one to your clinician.
- Update it after family news.
Check question
Which detail most often changes screening advice?
Answer: The age a relative was diagnosed. Early diagnoses in close relatives can move your own screening earlier.
Your checklist
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Quick quiz
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Related skills
Sources
- US national public health guidance on family health history, 2026. Reviewed September 28, 2026.
Written in our own words from the sources above. It is general information, not advice for your situation; where a professional, your doctor or your lease says something different, follow them.
Last reviewed . First published .