- With Mayo Clinic genetic counselor
Carrie A. Zabel, M.S., C.G.C.
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Carrie A. Zabel, M.S., C.G.C.
Carrie A. Zabel, M.S., C.G.C.
"We must begin now to prepare for the future; we cannot wait until the details are known or fully understood."*
— David B. Schowalter, M.D., Ph.D., former Mayo geneticist, (*posthumous)
Carrie A. Zabel, M.S., C.G.C., is a board-certified genetic counselor who specializes in hereditary cancer syndromes. One of her main professional interests is the family medical history.
"Recognizing features in the family history which may suggest an underlying single gene disorder can have a huge impact on families," she says. "Identifying a genetic susceptibility gene can allow family members to more accurately understand their risk of disease and empower those who have an increased genetic susceptibility to take control of their medical management and lifestyle factors which may influence this risk."
She received her B.S. in biology from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2002 and M.S. in genetic counseling from the University of Minnesota in 2004.
She was a clinical genetic counselor at the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wis., before joining Mayo Clinic in August 2006 as a genetic counselor and educator for the grant-funded Mayo Eisenberg Genomics Education Program. During her time in Wisconsin, she was also an active member of the metabolic subcommittee of the state Newborn Screening Program and co-facilitated a phenylketonuria clinic.
At Mayo Clinic, she provides physician and staff education about clinically relevant topics in genomics. She also manages multiple education projects championed by Mayo Clinic physicians and is a faculty member for Mayo Medical School. In addition to her education roles, she sees adult patients in the Department of Medical Genetics.
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Genetics blog
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Jan. 23, 2009
Family medical history can help predict health risk
By Carrie A. Zabel, M.S., C.G.C.
This week we'll help you decipher what in your family medical history could be cause for concern and what's not. If you don't feel comfortable interpreting the information on your own, a consultation with a genetics professional may be warranted. You can find a genetic counselor at the National Society of Genetic Counselors.
To accurately assess your health risk for disease based upon your family medical history, you must first sort out the diseases which are known to run in families such as high blood pressure, stroke, certain cancers, diabetes, mental illness, osteoporosis, arthritis, and obesity. Second, you can assess the level of risk for these conditions based on several factors including:
- The number of relatives with the same or a related condition
- The age when the conditions were diagnosed
- Other environmental risk factors which may have contributed to the development of disease (i.e. lung cancer in a heavy smoker)
- Whether the condition appears to be passed on in multiple generations
Individuals who have several generations of relatives diagnosed at an early age with no other environmental risk factors (i.e. negative health behaviors) are more likely to have a higher risk to also develop that disease. Some studies suggest that your risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer and/or colon cancer may be 2-5 times the risk of the general population, depending on your family medical history.
"Early age" can be defined as:
- Diabetes prior to age 20
- High blood pressure prior to age 40
- Breast, colon or prostate cancer diagnosed prior to age 50
- Stroke prior to age 60
A genetics professional will assist you to interpret your family medical history information, review screening or medical management guidelines, and discuss positive health behaviors which may lower your risk for disease.
For more information on genetic counselors, common diseases that run in families, screening and lifestyle factors, and an electronic tool to collect your family history, please visit the sites below.
And please share your thoughts and experiences with us.
11 comments posted
March 27, 2009 10:51 a.m.
My perinatal doctor is concerned that my 30 week old fetus may have Perlman Syndrome. Since there is no history of that in either of our families, how could my husband and I be carriers? Is there genetic testing to find out if we are indeed both carriers? I'm about to lose my mind, any help would be appreciated
- Autumn Ryan
March 9, 2009 11:30 a.m.
not medical. Try to study your family diet history. What was eaten when your family was healthy. We tend to change to rapidly changing things to fast. You will have to look at your parents individual diets and try to compare them to yours. You a conglomerate of your parents genetics. You might have had an unhealthy mother trying to make your fathers favorite foods which she shouldn't have been trying eat, unless they had similar family eating habits in the first place. Look at your parents, Maybe you should be eating like your father, dominant genetics 50 percent of the time, but eat like your mother. The past predicts the future in all aspects of life, but make sure change is slow, and just don't think you know who you are already, have an open mind. I can't make recomendations on your diet or meds, I can only advise you to open your mind and study more than medical history. They didn't know about all these new medical terms when I was young, they just ate healthy food with very few chemicals. whats good for you isn't definetly good for your spouse and kids, they may follow your spouses family eating line. Keep an open mind and study your family eating tree. who's healthy, who's not. Does the reason for divorce have something to do with food choices? one year later striving for domination of food choices starts happening, looser gets frustrated, end of honeymoon.
- rickymouse
February 21, 2009 10:18 a.m.
Find the latest news about Colon Cancer, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Colitis. Discuss Colon related issues with members of the Colon Health Community. Colon Cancer News & Discussion Forum
- jackjames
February 7, 2009 9:34 a.m.
I am an adult adoptee that started searching for my family medical information when I was pregnant with my first child. I was scared to death by the medical professionals after being "required" to do genetic testing because I had "no family medical history." This should have been my first real red flag that I was abandoned and orphaned by the state of New York - never to learn the truth about my family medical history. If the federal government and other medical professionals have put such a high stake in knowing family medical history and believe it to be both a life-saving tool and a viable resource in the treatment and prevention of medical conditions, then the federal government should impel the states to provide access to medical history for all of its citizens; which includes access to original birth certificates and the ability to obtain this family medical history without having to shell out large sums of money to hire private investigators and wait more than 26 years to have the information that is regarded as "critical and life-saving" by the medical profession and other health professionals. Peter Carucci in Vital Records, as well as the New York State Senators and Assembly members need to seriously look at the full impact of refusing this information to adult adoptees in the State of New York. Now is the right time to make positive change for all adult adoptees and give them what is rightfully theirs - their medical histories and
- Cathy (orphaned by the state of New York)
January 28, 2009 12:11 p.m.
As an adoptee from New York, my "family medical history" consists of "your birthmother's maternal grandfather died of TB at the age of 55". This would have happened during the 1930's. I am not allowed to know anything that happened after 1953. Many adoptees are not allowed to know their ethnicity - another source of health risk if specific family history is unknown or sealed by archaic laws. Heritage, medical history, identity are all important to non-adoptees - but if you're an adoptee you're labeled as selfish and ungrateful, told it's all irrelevant and advised to "get over it". I'm sorry if wanting the same rights as others makes me appear selfish. I don't see anyone else advocating for OUR rights.
- Gaye Sherman Tannenbaum
January 28, 2009 8:03 a.m.
adoptees are fed up with their second class citizenship and no family medical history. Sealed birth certificate laws and state adoption policies have adoptees and birth parents living in the past. Adoption practice is always ahead of state policy, but clinging to the past is very unhealthy for adoptees who want to present doctors with medical histories.
- Joyce Bahr
January 28, 2009 7:59 a.m.
Does The Mayo Clinic believe that medical history is important for all individuals, or only for individuals who weren't adopted? If you intend to advocate for medical history, you then have an obligation to advocate for restoring access to adoptees. Otherwise, there are over 6 million Americans who you appear not to care about.
- A question
January 27, 2009 5:43 p.m.
Both my parents died of stroke - one embolic and one hemorrhagic. i am now 62 and go to the gym four times a week, plus i eat lots of fruits, veggies, take my omega-3, flaxseed oil, aspirin daily. Is this enough to 'run' from that propensity? also, on my mother's side, i had an aunt that had ovarian cancer and an uncle that had colon cancer. is that a red flag for me or does it have to be the immediate family to be a factor? thank you. Nan Tudor
- Nan Tudor
January 27, 2009 5:09 p.m.
My oldest son was adopted and had no idea about his birth father's family heart history. When I attempted to get this potentially life saving information to him through the authorities, it was not allowed - illegal. A private investigator had to be hired to get this critical health information to him! There is a BIG problem with our society in regards to ADOPTED persons!
- Jill Auerbach
January 27, 2009 3:43 p.m.
I can imagine the insurance industry will someday try to capitalize on the fact that some citizens don't have medical history.
- Lori Jeske/Schoonover (Spangle, WA)
January 27, 2009 3:41 p.m.
Interesting how the importance of family medical history does seem to apply to adoptees. Throughout the U.S., most states prohibit adopted citizens from accessing their birth certificates which would ulitimately help them determine their biological relatives.
- Lori Jeske/Schoonover
11 comments posted