Family history: Still relevant in the genomics era - Cleveland Clinic

Family history: Still relevant in the genomics era

 Key points

• The family history is an underused tool for predicting the risk of disease and for personalizing preventive care.
• Barriers to the appropriate collection and use of the family history include concerns over the reliability of patient reporting, a lack of time and reimbursement, and provider knowledge gaps.
• Use of family history to inform genetic testing for hereditary cancer syndromes has been shown to improve outcomes and may reduce overall health care costs.
• Future solutions need to focus on creating time-effective ways to collect and analyze the family history, and on developing innovative methods of educating medical providers at all levels of training as to how to apply the family history in clinical practice.