Family History and Disease Correlation

[StrawberryEllieBean]

I'm study cardiac assessment for the ccu and well, I'm curious, is there really a correlation with family history and disease? Wouldn't it depend on numerous factors other than genetics? Even if it was upbringing, what if your lifestyles differed extremely?In addition, how about family who didn't live together? Is there still a strong familial correlation to the patient's disease ?

[CelticGoddess, BSN, RN]

Have you done a search? Even if you don't have access to EBSCO (your school probably does, though), you can still find good articles through google. (Heck, even the American Heart Association has articles about it). Just google heart disease and genetics.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

The centers for disease control and prevention is an excellent resource for students and nurses and anyone else who is just curious about diseases and conditions.

[RunnerNurse09, BSN, RN]

It depends on the disease. In the genetics course I took, I found it fascinating to learn that you may have a certain gene that predisposes you to a disease, but only certain environmental factors can turn it on (such as a virus, and many autoimmune diseases are triggered by environmental factors). Lots of things go into how or if a disease will be passed on. Look into genetics. As far as cardiac, again, depends on the disease and of course, environmental factors.