I always wondered this, but I never knew what the answer to this was. for example if my relative developed diabetes after I was born, would I be still be at higher risk at getting it. something like that. if that is true, then how does it work? sorry if I sound stupid
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Talking about diabetes, it depends on why your grandfather got it, if he has it from genetic factors you’ll be at an higher risk (if your parent got the genetic factors from your grandad and you got them too). If your grandfather developed diabetes from non-genetic factors then you won’t be at an higher risk.
In general it depends on the disease, if it’s caused by hereditary traits then yes, you’ll be at an higher risk, if it’s from non-genetic factors you won’t.
If the cause of his diabetes was a genetical predisposition rather than some external cause, then yes, you may be at risk as well, even if he didn’t develop the disease but still carried the genetic aberration causing the predisposition to exist
Yes, but that’s probably not a good way to phrase it.
For simplicity, let’s assume that we’re talking about a genetic condition that develops (i.e. becomes obvious and starts messing with you) later in life, and there’s no way to test for it before it develops. Let’s say that it’s a disease that affects 1 in 1,000 people in the general population, and that the child of somebody with the disease has a 1 in 2 chance of inheriting it.
Now, when you were born, either you had the condition or you didn’t. That was just a fact at the moment you were born. However, nobody had any way of knowing this. So, if your parents asked a doctor for the likelihood of you having the disease, the doctor would have said “1 in 1,000, like everyone else”.
Then your grandfather developed the condition. This means that we now know that he had it and might have passed it to his child and thus to you. The chance that somebody whose grandfather has the condition also has it is about 1 in 4. It’s slightly higher than 1 in 4 because there’s a chance that you’ve got it for reasons unrelated to your grandfather. So now, if you ask a doctor for the likelihood that you have the condition, knowing your family history, the doctor will say “About 1 in 4”.
Of course, nothing changed for you when your grandfather got his diagnosis. Your genes are what they are. But now you have a much stronger reason to think you’re at risk of having the condition, and that can change the decisions you make from now on (such as getting regular checkups of the aspects of your health that relate to the condition).
Diabetes is complicated, but there is definitely a genetic component to it, so if anybody in your family is diagnosed with it, no matter when, then you should be more concerned about having it yourself than a typical person would be.
If it is a genetic disease that develops symptoms later in life, they basically already carry the “vulnerability” to the disease when they are born so you can potentially also have that “vulnerability” to the disease.
Think of it like this. If you and all your relatives have pale skin your are all more likely to get sunburned.
The pale skin is something you have in common because you are related.
If your uncle gets a bad sunburn after you are born, this sunburn doesn’t get magically transmitted to you in some way. You were born with a higher likelihood of getting sunburns.
Similarly many diseases and illnesses have a genetic factor. You are born being more or less likely to get that diseases than other people.
This is why doctors often ask about family history of certain diseases, because if people you are related to are more likely to get them, than so might you.
If many members of your family died of a certain kind of disease or cancer or get a certain mental condition, that might be down to environmental factors or it might be something in your genes that makes you more susceptible to them, which might be a reason for you to look out for that problem.
Generally speaking, your DNA (your genes) do not change throughout your life. Whether you have a child at 20, 30 or 40, that child is inheriting the same genes. Or, to be more precise, the child is still inheriting some random chunk of your DNA (as the child isn’t inheriting ALL your DNA).
It’s a little like drawing cards from a deck. You can draw the cards today, or tomorrow, or the day after, but you’re still drawing from the same deck. If the deck happens to have a lot of aces, then your chances of drawing those aces are still high whether you draw today or tomorrow.
In other words, if there is something genetic that causes diabetes in your family, then it’s possible to pass that down (or inherit it) before anyone shows any symptoms. Showing symptoms has little to do with whether the vulnerability is coded in the DNA and inheritable.
There are also non-genetic factors to consider. Family members often have similar diets, live close together, etc. That means they may be exposed to similar environmental factors that make particular illnesses more likely.
Both my mom and my sister had breast cancer. Ergo, being afab, I have a *very* high risk of developing breast cancer myself.
So glad I opted for top surgery to remove them. I still have to self examine BUT no more goddamn mammograms.
I also have a maternal history (grandma, great grandma, great aunt) of osteoporosis. Ergo, I try and be very good about my calcium.
>why so?
Because genetics. Someone of your bloodline has [condition], therefore they’re demonstrating that [condition] could also develop in your own body. That’s why doctor offices ask about family medical history.
Your relative was at risk of getting that disease since before you were born, you inherited the risk, so it’s possible you’ll develop the disease too.
We are talking about disease that come from genetic factors of course
Diabetes probably isn’t the best example. As there are different kinds of diabetes. Most people (at least in the USA) who have diabetes have Type 2. Type 2 is generally self inflicted by being obese for many years.
Type 1 diabetes is what most children get and is often genetic.
Now they are finding that some forms of Type 2 diabetes may have a genetic component. But at the same time.. if you watch your diet then you could still avoid it (cut your carbs). Whereas Type 1 you have no control over really.
But like say.. Multiple Sclerosis (MS). My grandmother had this. It’s not hereditary.. but the chances of getting it do go up with more genetic markers. Thankfully I didn’t get it.
Now.. my next door neighbors have an MS type condition that looks alot like MS. Loss of control over muscles putting them into wheelchairs. It’s genetic but doesn’t develop until they get older. So none of the kids had symptoms. Symptoms start in their 30’s. But they were born with it. Once the genetic sequence was found.. now they can be tested and know that they have it and will very likely become disabled as they get older. But they were three generations in before the grandfather was diagnosed (he had been misdiagnosed as having MS). So it was well spread throughout the family. All three kids had it and 3/4 of the grandkids and at least one great-grandchild before they even knew there was a problem.
So.. it really depends on the condition.
You’re at a higher risk to get any disease that has a genetic factor the moment your first cell it’s made. Your genes don’t change (basically) so that’s is already determined. So no, your family member getting a disease doesn’t change if you have it. What does happens is now you’re aware that that disease runs in your family genes, so you know the chance you have it is higher than someone whose family doesn’t, but whether you actually have it was already determined when you were born, you just didn’t know it.
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