Your disease family tree or as your doctor would call it your pedigree drawing is a representation of your family and shows any heart problems that your relatives may have had your heart disease family history .
The purpose of the disease family tree is to show where you are (shown in this example by the black arrow pointing at Peter) and the connections to your family members who have heart disease.
The disease family tree shows four possible indications for cardiovascular disease
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Peripheral vascular disease (eg. thrombosis)
- Surgical cardiovascular procedure (eg. bypass)
If a family member has had one or more of these then their age the first occurance is shown. In this example Peter's father Henry had a thrombosis aged 45 then suffered a stroke at age 48 then had bypass surgery later the same year. Unfortunately Henry died at age 50 which is indicated by the stroke across his male square symbol.
Grandparent's data is included on the heart risk assessment family tree as well as Peter's brother (Bret) and sister (Ann) together with their children. In our example Peter does not have any children of his own.
Peter's age is shown as between 48 and 49. For personal security reasons the data entry does not ask for real date of birth just year of birth and also for the same reason only first names are entered.
The writing under Peter's symbol says he is taking medication for diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure) he has dyslipidemia (abnormal cholesterol) and his boby mass index (BMI) is calculated at 26 by using his recorded height and weight. You should share this disease family tree with your doctor. | 
