CHARTING YOUR CHOLESTEROL:
CREATE YOUR OWN FAMILY HEALTH TREE

Certain health conditions tend to run in families—and high cholesterol is no exception. That's why it's important to investigate who in your family has high cholesterol, a condition that can lead to stroke, chest pains and/or heart disease. High occurrences of these conditions may mean that you're at increased risk, too.

By tracking the health of your parents, grandparents, siblings and other descendents with a family medical tree, you and your health care professional will have a useful tool to help identify disease patterns, including high cholesterol.

Developing your family medical tree is easy! Here are a few useful hints to get your started:

• Interview all of your relatives, including your immediate family, parents, siblings and siblings' children.


• Work backwards as many generations as possible.


• Don't forget to include birth dates and age at death.


• Record general health habits such as smoking and diet.

Click here to download a sample family medical tree and track your and your family's cholesterol health history.

If you start to see a pattern of high cholesterol within your family, be sure to talk with your health care professional about the condition. Bring this health family tree to your next visit and find out your cholesterol numbers—if you don't already know them.

Discuss with your health care professional the difference between LDL "bad" and HDL "good" cholesterol and the two sources of cholesterol. Cholesterol comes from foods you eat and is produced naturally in your body. Your health care professional may recommend lifestyle modifications such as diet and exercise, and—when that's not enough—adding medication if your cholesterol is high. Working with your health care professional to lower your cholesterol today may help you lower your risk for cardiovascular disease in the future.

Supported by a grant from Merck-Schering/Plough Pharmaceuticals