Familial Risks, Health Behaviors and Complexities
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Familial Risks
Family members share several genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors that combine to influence their health risk factors. Commonly, people within families possess similarities in some chronic disease and conditions. Therefore, the assumption is always that if an individual in a family has a chronic illness then it is probable that the others are at risk of similar illness. From the figure above showing three generations of relatives, it is realizable that though at one point everyone has a diagnosis of a disease or condition, the time of the onset varies (Brannon, Feist, & Updegraff, 2013). It is important that members of a family be aware of the incumbent disease conditions within their close generations to be able to keep track of the risk factors.
According to Cockerham (2014), having knowledge of illness and conditions of family members and the period of onset of the disease or the time of first diagnosis is most important in preventive strategies. Modifications can be made and interventions designed to reduce risk of the diseases and conditions within the families to help keep healthier lives. It is paramount to update family health history from time to time and inform family members of health trends within their set or readily avail to a service provider to help choose the appropriate diagnosis. There are several tools developed to assist families in creating their health histories.
My Health Family Portrait used for analysis of the data above is one of the tools available for use and provides a comprehensive analysis based on data in the entry. The table in the first pages indicates the relations existing within generation and diseases diagnosed in every individual. In the table that features fourteen people within a relation, it is clear that three out of the family members passed on, and the causes of their death vary. The elder people who died with different diseases at their later stages in life had diagnosis almost same period. Those who died had attained a better age that can be an indicator of higher life span within the family.
According to Turton (2013), chronic diseases and conditions mostly run in families, and diagnosis of one of a condition is a clear indicator of exposure of the family members to similar risks. From the table above it is realizable that some of the diseases and conditions are diagnosed with the members at younger age while in others diagnosis of the diseases or conditions comes at a later stage in life. A conclusion can almost be that at least a disease can be diagnosed in a person at a younger age within the family. Therefore, it would be noble to undergo tests at a younger age to ascertain an individual's health. With a proper history of the family disease trends, a physician can make a prediction of a disease or condition and establish preventive measures.
Health Behaviors and Complexities
Besides the age factor, it is realizable that there is no person within the tree with congenital complexities (Cockerham, 2014). Two people fall within higher cholesterol with only a single person with a diagnosis of kidney disease just as the case of the heart disease and other diseases reported. From the chart summary, it can be predicted that members may contract high cholesterol conditions and gastrointestinal disorder than any other illness or condition said within the family. It is hard to realize the exact age of the first diagnosis, but it is sure that at the age of 40, it is likely that a person would have diagnosis of a condition or disease.
The typical factors that influence the risk factor are lifestyle behaviors such as the food we take and physical activities in which we were engaged (Brannon, Feist, & Updegraff, 2013). Stressful environments promote health risk factors that in turn may make one develop a complication that at last may be chronic and even cause death. Mitigating risk factors involve withdrawal of some meals that promote risk factors and controlling intake of food and substances that would otherwise be harmful. From personal health state, the development of gastrointestinal condition can be autoimmune or because of the uptake some foods and substances (Turton, 2013).
Controlling the situation requires regular visit to a physician and following the prescriptions recommended to restore the normal status (Turton, 2013). Regular check up by a doctor and improved dietary behavior such as the uptake of more natural food than the processed is one way in which the family mitigates risk factors. Family history is most important to understanding the possible trends and developing earlier interventions to counter possibilities of occurrence of a disease (Brannon, Feist, & Updegraff, 2013). Families can make adjustments to ensure the improvement of their health behaviors through exercises and intake of appropriate foods with enough quantities of nutrients that would not encourage health risks and ultimately diseases.