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From: "Sally Rolls Pavia" <>
Subject: Families Should Catalog Medical History
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 14:41:00 -0700

Families Should Catalog Medical History
November 9, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Thanksgiving is an ideal time for families to catalog
their medical histories with a new government computer program that
officials say can save critical time -- and lives -- for people who might
inherit illnesses like breast cancer and heart disease.

"Knowing your family's history can save your life," Surgeon General Richard
H. Carmona said Monday. "You'll be amazed at what you learn."

Merely organizing a family's medical history often means power to predict
and perhaps head off diseases prevalent in families even before they appear.

Health and genetic experts on Monday announced a free, Internet-based
computer program that compiles information about six common diseases that
often afflict several generations, such as heart disease, cancer and
diabetes.

The software of "My Family Health Portrait" then prints out a graphic that
can help a doctor assess the risk factors for family members and begin tests
and treatment before any disease is evident, officials said.

Genetic factors contribute to the cause, length and response to therapy of
almost every type of illness. So knowing family medical histories can help
doctors tell people the risks of certain illnesses that run in the family.

While 96 percent of people think knowing such history is important to their
health, only about a third have ever tried to catalog the information,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which studied
the issue in August.

The software, in effect, gives doctors a head start in calculating the risk
of disease. The average doctor's visit is 20 minutes, which is too short to
interview a patient, record three generations of medical history, assess
disease risks and chart courses of action, said geneticist Francis S.
Collins.

"Family history is central to taking advantage of the new genomic medicine,
which is bubbling up all around us," said Collins, director of the National
Human Genome Research Institute and a leader of the Human Genome Project.

Carmona acknowledged that filing family histories carries privacy concerns,
such as the possibility an insurance company might see the records and raise
a patient's premium or deny coverage. But family medical histories already
sit in many patients' files, he pointed out.

Additionally, a bill passed by the Senate and working its way through the
House would provide more protection by barring employers from using people's
family histories in hiring or firing, Carmona said.

The family history initiative cost the government about $300,000, mostly for
printing and software, said Larry Thompson, spokesman for the National Human
Genome Research Institute.

The software can be downloaded at www.hhs.gov/familyhistory. A print version
of "My Family Health Portrait" will be available in English and Spanish at
more than 3,600 medical offices nationwide. Print versions also can be
obtained from the Federal Citizen Information Center at 888-878-3256.

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.



Sally Rolls Pavia

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