My Family Health Portrait is an Internet-based tool that makes it easy to create your family's health history. It is simple to fill out. It is private. It is valuable health information that you can share with family members, for their benefit, and with your healthcare practitioner, for your better health.
My Family Health History is available at:
https://familyhistory.hhs.gov/fhh-web/home.action
Using My Family Health Portrait, you can:
- Record your family's health history
- Print out and share the history with your family and your healthcare provider
- Save and regularly update your family health history for future use
Why is it important to know my family medical history?
Your family medical history is a record of health information about you and three generations of close relatives. Family history can be an important risk factor for problems like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. A risk factor is anything that increases your chance of getting a disease. The reason a family history can help predict risk is that families share their genes, as well as other factors that affect health, like environment, lifestyles, and habits. A family medical history allows you to take steps to reduce your risk.
To Find Out More
MedlinePlus: Family History
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/familyhistory.html
Family Health History
www.cdc.gov/genomics/famhistory/index.htm
