The NIH State-of-the-Science Conference: Family history and improving health promises "pivotal discussions on the effectiveness of family history information for disease prediction and improvement of patient health outcomes." For more information, to register or to watch a live videocast, visit the conference website.
The conference will draft answers to the following questions, taken from their website :
- What are the key elements of a family history in a primary care setting for the purposes of risk assessment for common diseases?
- What is the accuracy of the family history, and under what conditions does the accuracy vary?
- What is the direct evidence that getting a family history will improve health outcomes for the patient and/or family?
- What is the direct evidence that getting a family history will result in adverse outcomes for the patient and/or family?
- What are the factors that encourage or discourage obtaining and using a family history?
- What are future research directions for assessing the value of family history for common diseases in the primary care setting?