Family health knowledge 'lacking'

Knowing about relative's illnesses is crucial, the survey showed

Family doctors say patients should be more aware of their relatives' health history, a survey has found.

A poll of 200 GPs carried out for Norwich Union Healthcare found 88% said patients should know more about hereditary conditions.

A second survey of 1,000 members of the public found a third knew little about their family's health.

But cancer and Alzheimer's disease experts said a family history did not mean a person was necessarily at risk.

We wouldn't like to make people worry unduly that if they have family members with Alzheimer's, that they will go on to get it Alzheimer's Society spokeswoman

The survey of GPs found that, even when people were able to provide basic details of their family's health history, 55% of the doctors questioned did not feel confident the information was accurate.

And just under 80% of members of the public surveyed said they did not feel they needed to know about their family's health history.

Of those who did, the majority - three quarters - said it was because they were curious. Only three per cent said they were interested for health reasons.

'Responsibility'

GP Dr Ann Robinson said: "We often know more about our friends' health than we do about our own grandparents, aunts and uncles."

"If you know you have a family tendency to develop Alzheimer's, heart disease, diabetes or some types of cancer, you can get specific advice about how to prevent the disease yourself or at least pick it up in the early stages."

Dr Doug Wright, clinical development manager at Norwich Union Healthcare, said: "Most of us have very limited knowledge about our family's health history.

"We want to encourage people to generate and update their family history to promote a sense of responsibility and encourage individuals to play a part in their own health care management."

This is the comment on the family health trees release.

Dr Lesley Walker, Director of Cancer Information at Cancer Research UK, said: "It is important to stress that cancer is very common and huge numbers of people will have one or two relatives who have been diagnosed with cancer.

"This does not mean that cancer runs in your family.

"Your family history of cancer becomes more important the more relatives you have on the same side of the family with the same type of cancer; the younger they were when they were diagnosed; and the more closely related the relatives are to you."

A spokeswoman for the Alzheimer's Society, said only a very small number of cases of the disease were linked to genes: "We wouldn't like to make people worry unduly that if they have family members with Alzheimer's, that they will go on to get it."

She said one in five people over 80 and one in 20 people over 65 would develop the condition.