Family History — Halo Research Library

Swedish nationwide birth cohort: parental age at death predicts midlife all-cause mortality and hospitalization

Moderate

Longevity in family Observational evidence

Cohort study

Swedish cohort: each additional decade of parental survival associated with ~22% lower offspring mortality

Causal status: Association / inherited + shared environment

Reliability / bias notes: Parental death data quality; cohort-era and environment effects

2024 · PMID 38424528

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Quantitative risk of positive family history in developing colorectal cancer: A meta-analysis

Moderate

Hereditary Cancer Meta-analysis Observational evidence

Meta-analysis

First-degree relative with colorectal cancer associated with 1.87x risk of colorectal cancer (95% CI 1.68–2.09) in a pooled analysis of 46 studies

Causal status: Associational; shared genetics and environment both contribute

Reliability / bias notes: Colorectal-cancer-specific, not all cancer sites; this pooled estimate does not stratify by the relative's age at diagnosis (the under-60 cutoff used in our question could not be verified against a single landmark source)

Mehraban Far et al · World J Gastroenterol · 2019 · PMID 31435179

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Family history of premature death and risk of early onset cardiovascular disease

Strong for susceptibility

Hereditary Cardiovascular disease Observational evidence

Observational study

Danish cohort: premature family CVD death IRR ~1.72 for any CVD, ~2.21 for IHD; multiple affected relatives much higher

Causal status: Association/genetic + shared environment

Reliability / bias notes: Family-history accuracy; incomplete pedigree; mixed genetic and shared behavioural pathways

Ranthe et al · JACC · 2012 · PMID 22917005

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