Who values knowing family health history information? A survey of community health center patients

Introduction: Although major community-based initiatives have been launched in the U.S. to educate individuals about the importance of collecting a family health history for disease prevention, few adults have collected this information. Research is needed to identify factors affecting interest in collecting family health history information in order to improve the reach and effectiveness of family history-based disease prevention initiatives.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey with 1493 adult patients at community health centers. We built a multivariable logistic regression model to examine predictors of perceived importance of knowing family health history information for one's own health. Predictors were identified based on the Risk Information Seeking and Processing model.

Results: About 32% of patients self-identified as White, 31% as Black and 26% as Hispanic; 56% had limited health literacy. Factors predicting strong agreement that family health history is important for one's own health in a multivariable model were being White (p=.007), reporting a family history of heart disease (p=.02), having higher health literacy (p=.045), placing greater importance on knowing genetic risk information (p<.0001), and having higher confidence in one's ability to understand genetic information (p<.0001).

Discussion: Patients with a family history of heart disease thought knowing their family health history was important and might therefore be more responsive to community-based initiatives encouraging the collection and use of this information. However, targeted messages are likely needed to educate underserved communities and those with less interest and skills related to genetics about the importance of family health history information for disease prevention.