Family History
Family health assessment is significant in understanding some of the genetically underlying infections running through the family. The similarity in genes and ability to define conditions of people within a family has gained a significant amount of research in the healthcare setting (Padmanabhan et al., 2019). The healthcare system relies on the family history of a patient to understand the infection and determine the best treatment approach. An adequate analysis of the family health history has been important in providing quality care. “My Family Health Portrait” has played a significant role in allowing me to understand the family health history. This assignment aims to discuss hereditary patterns risk of transmission to new facility members and propose the feasibility of using this tool in my practice.
Hereditary Patterns
The disease running through my family history is hypertension. My grandfather died of hypertension, and two of my uncles have been diagnosed with the condition. The disease seems to be affecting various family members in different ways. my sister’s daughter has also been diagnosed with hypertension. While some of the family members are safe and do not suffer from the infection, they are more likely to be carriers of these genes (Rhodes et al., 2019). Most family members diagnosed with the disease do not reach later ages as they succumb to this condition.
Moreover, the last-born daughter of my younger brother was diagnosed with the condition in her adolescence. Hypertension increases its severity as one grows old. However, it also affects children during their adolescents, which is a rare condition that was experienced within the family. The passage of this gene from parents to offspring has been evident within the family. Many family members in our lineage suffer from hypertension, signifying that our generation carried this gene disorder from our grandparents (Padmanabhan et al., 2019). Again, it is evident that our grandfather was the main sufferer of this condition and might have gotten the disease from another person along with their genes. Currently, the number of children born with hypertension is on the rise, calling for intervention measures that would save our future children’s lives from suffering the condition.
Risk of Transformation
One of the main risks that lead to the development of this condition is overweight, which is a similar gene running through the family. My grandfather and uncles were overweight, which increased their risk of suffering from this infection. The complications that led to my grandfather’s demise were poor eating habits and uncontrolled weight resulting in increased blood pressure. Many family members who understood that hypertension was a common problem in the family history were keen on living healthy to reduce the risk of attracting the disease at a later age (Rhodes et al., 2019). My younger brother’s daughter is obese and was recently diagnosed with hypertension at the adolescent stage. This unveiling of conditions within the family signifies that increased weight is a risk factor for this condition within my family.
A father or a mother carrying the hypertension gene disorder would also portray a high chance of offspring suffering from the disease. The parent would pass the disease to the child, where the child could either be a carrier or sufferer. Children who are not sufferers would have an increased possibility of siring offspring with the condition (Rhodes et al., 2019). The increased spread of the condition in my family comes from genetics. For instance, parents pass the genes to their offspring, who become carriers of sufferers. Hypertension would still run through the blood of my family members unless effective measures are taken to reduce the risk of this disease in the family.
Feasibility of using My Family Health Portrait in Nursing
A family health portrait is important in understanding the family health history and developing an effective approach to a condition running through the family. While it might be challenging to treat those who already suffer from the infection, other members of the family could have adequate nursing advice on effective ways to stop the cycle. A family that understands the family health condition would be sure about the future of children and take effective measures to improve the quality of health in their families (Kwiatkowska et al., 2020). Parents have the role of protecting their children’s health and such information would allow the nurse to advise on the effective means that parents could use to protect their future children.
Families with children suffering from hypertension would require frequent hospital visits and treatments that would affect the family’s financial position. However, families suffering from genetic health conditions could understand effective management of these conditions when the information is known early enough. For instance, a regular check-up with a constant examination of the condition would aid parents in monitoring the growth of a child with a hypertension risk (Rhodes et al., 2019). The increased percentage of people dying from hypertension in the recent past proves that the disease is fatal and effective measures need to be taken early enough within the family. One of the main approaches would be to adopt a healthy life and check a healthy weight that would not increase the risk of such infections.
Conclusion
Family health history unveils information about a particular disease running through the family. Adequate information on these diseases would imply that effective measures would be taken before the disease become fatal. Understanding the genetic makeup in a family unravels various health conditions and supports effective measures that would reduce the effect on future children.
References
Kwiatkowska, J., Zuk, M., Migdal, A., Kusa, J., Skiba, E., Zygielo, K., … & Kopec, G. (2020). Children and adolescents with pulmonary arterial hypertension: baseline and follow-up data from the Polish Registry of Pulmonary Hypertension (BNP-PL). Journal of Clinical Medicine, 9(6), 1717. https://jcm-09-01717.pdf
Padmanabhan, S., Aman, A., & Dominiczak, A. F. (2019). Genetic basis of blood pressure and hypertension. Manual of hypertension of the European Society of Hypertension, 51-65.
Rhodes, C. J., Batai, K., Bleda, M., Haimel, M., Southgate, L., Germain, M., … & US PAH Biobank Consortium. (2019). Genetic determinants of risk in pulmonary arterial hypertension: international genome-wide association studies and meta-analysis. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 7(3), 227-238. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(18)30409-0