Do You Know Your Family's Health History?

Your family health history is like a report card about illnesses in your family. It tells about sicknesses that others in your family have had. Your family members might have similar habits, live in the same places, or have certain changes in their genes that can make you more or less likely to get sick, especially with cancer. 

Knowing what other men in your family have been diagnosed or have had prostate cancer is important. What is often overlooked are female relatives. If mothers, sisters and daughters have a history of breast and ovarian cancers, possibly stemming from mutations in genes like BRCA1/2, a man's risk for prostate cancer is also significantly increased, and this information should be included in family histories to guide screening, testing and treatment.   Source: Journal of Clinical Oncology