This is from RootsWeb Review for this week. I have a medical pedigree that I can print out the gives the ailments and causes of deaths for 6 generations. I am missing some cousin data but not any for a direct ancestor. My doctors love it. They can't believe that I have it and are always fascinated by it. All have said they wished every patient had one. This article is a good one for telling you how to do it. Compiling Medical Pedigrees By Judy Florian, former Registered Nurse When doctors, nurses, and hospital staff ask about medical history of a person's family, they are primarily interested in (in this order): 1. Your own medical history 2. Both of your parents' medical history 3. Your siblings' (but not stepsisters or stepbrothers) medical history 4. Paternal grandparents' medical history 5. Maternal grandparents' medical history Beyond these, medical histories are not considered as important, although some doctors *might* ask you to also include: 1. Aunts' medical history (the full sisters of your father and/or mother) 2. Uncles' medical history (the full brothers of your father and/or mother) 3. First cousins' medical history However, it is unusual for doctors to ask about the health of your aunts, uncles, and cousins. Most adults will know already that the primary organ categories asked about are: Heart, lung, renal (kidney), pancreas, and liver which cover the primary large group diseases such as: HEART: Heart attack (M.I. myocardial infarction), arrhythmia (abnormal heart rate), CHF (congestive heart failure), and hypertension (high blood pressure). LUNG: Asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and tuberculosis. RENAL: Kidney failure, hypertension (high blood pressure, which can affect kidney function). PANCREAS: Diabetes --high blood sugar. LIVER: Liver failure, etc. Doctors also ask for other specific diseases that can affect one or more body organs, such as: CANCER (can affect skin or any organ). ALCOHOL ABUSE (affects liver and changes blood chemistries). CHEMICAL ABUSE/DRUG ABUSE (affects liver; can affect blood and other organs if person has used IV drugs, e.g., "shooting up"). While there are many diseases that are considered hereditary or to "run in the family," there are actually few diseases where it would be any more beneficial to know more than three generations of history. This means you, your parents and your four grandparents. Diseases considered to be truly genetic include those such as blood diseases (example: sickle cell -- important to know if there is African American bloodline in "white" families); blood-clotting deficiencies; rare/true chromosomal abnormalities like in mental retardation, and "orphan" diseases such as Noonan's Syndrome. For the true genetic chromosomal diseases or rare orphan diseases it would be good to know a more extensive history. For more information on rare orphan diseases see: http://www.rarediseases.org/ So, while it is interesting for families to know "heart attacks have been frequent in my primary family line for 150 years," doctors for the most part will still only be interested in three generations of medical history. Only when there is a rare diagnosis might an in-depth medical genealogy be worthwhile -- at least in today's medical world. Possibly in years to come, medical research will find a useful way to use the medical genealogies that researchers have compiled -- but authentic medical research must set certain criteria to have the research be valid, so in fact, our medical genealogies may end up still only being of interest to genealogy researchers. One area that will become increasingly important, however, is the question: did you and your children have complete series of childhood immunizations? Many children did not have all or only some immunizations and perhaps booster shots were skipped. There is discussion now about how boosters only protect people for X number of years. Americans, for the most part, do not remember the rampant illness, debility and deaths caused by communicable diseases such as whooping cough, smallpox, and polio. Even measles and mumps can kill from opportunistic infections that can come with a major illness. So while you are collecting your ancestors' medical histories, pull out your children's immunization records and talk to your doctor about what might still be needed. ____________________________________________ Check out the Bunker Family Association. http://www.bunkerfamilyassn.org. If your name is Bunker and you are a male, consider joining our surname DNA project.