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![]() Family IBD History Amber J Tresca Know Your IBD HistoryAbout.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by Kate Grossman, MD
Did you know that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) runs in families? However, it's more complicated than just inheriting your father's eye color or your mother's complexion. IBD is not necessarily passed directly from parent to child. Yet when people with IBD dig into their medical history, they may find family members -- both close and extended -- that have gastrointestinal problems. Putting together your family's medical history can be difficult. Gastrointestinal disorders can be a taboo topic, and there may be family members who do not want to discuss their medical problems. In the case of deceased family members, such as grandparents or great-grandparents, you may discover that their children or siblings will acknowledge that a problem existed, but it was never diagnosed or treated by a physician. In cases where the family member saw a doctor, an older term that is no longer used -- ileitis -- may have been the diagnosis. Questions to Ask"Tummy troubles" won't necessarily come up in casual conversation, so asking the right questions may be the only way to get an accurate family history.
Putting it TogetherOnce you have all this information about your family gastrointestinal history, you'll want to put it on paper. You can do this by writing a list of family members and how their medical history relates to IBD. You can also create a family tree. Start with yourself and your immediate family, and connect your family members. This will give you a good picture of how IBD runs in your family.Sources:
Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. About the Epidemiology of IBD. CCFA 2007. Oct 18 2007.
Peeters M, Nevens H, Baert F, et al. "Familial aggregation in Crohn's disease: Increased age, adjusted risk and concordance in clinical characteristics." Gastroenterology 1996. Oct 18 2007. Updated: October 19, 2007 |
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