When "It Runs in the Family" Deserves a Closer Look

Key Takeaways

• Family history can increase your risk, but it does not decide the outcome. Knowing early is the advantage.
• Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are three common conditions that can run in families.
• These conditions often have no noticeable symptoms in their early stages.
• Consider getting screened earlier if close family have these conditions.
• A GP visit is a good first step towards understanding your risk.

You may have your mother's laugh. Your father's nose. Perhaps even those same knobbly knees he prefers "not to talk about". These are the little things that make a family look, and feel, like family.

But appearances and characteristics may not be the only things you share. Shaped by genes, habits and environments over generations, some health conditions can occur within families too. The trouble is, for many of us, "it runs in the family" is something we just shrug off.

But there is real value in knowing what runs in your family. It gives you a head start: a chance to check earlier, act sooner, and reduce the chance of an underlying condition going unnoticed until it becomes harder to manage. So, the next time everyone is together, consider starting the conversation that could help your whole family stay ahead.

Understanding family health risk

You don't inherit health conditions the way you inherit eye colour. What can be passed down is a greater risk of developing them. When a condition appears repeatedly within a family, the pattern usually comes from two places.

• The first is your genes. Some genetic differences can affect how efficiently your body regulates blood sugar, blood pressure or cholesterol, increasing the likelihood of a condition developing later in life. Having a parent or sibling with type 2 diabetes, for instance, can increase your own risk. ¹
• The second is the life a family shares. The way food is prepared, what you eat, or how much you move. These habits can be ‘passed down’ too, and that can add to the risk. In most families, genes and shared habits both play a part.

Sometimes it is not just tendencies that are inherited, but the condition itself. Familial hypercholesterolaemia is an inherited condition caused by a genetic change that can prevent the body from clearing LDL cholesterol from the blood, so levels run high from a young age. ²

Family history shapes the odds, not the outcome, so a higher risk is not the same as a certainty. It is worth paying closer attention to details such as, if a parent or sibling has a condition, if more than one relative is affected, or if someone was diagnosed young. Either way, it starts with knowing your family's history. And for most of us, that just means asking.

How to spark a family health conversation

Talking about health does not have to be awkward. At your next family get-together, you can ease in gently with questions like these:

• Find out what actually runs in the family 
  "That time Grandpa was treated for something, what was it again?"
• See who else has the same condition 
  "Grandma has diabetes, right? Does anyone else in the family have it too?"
• Learn the medication they are on 
  "I always see you taking that medicine. What is it for?"
• Ask about their last screening 
  "There are subsidised screenings now. When was the last time you did your screening?"
• Encourage healthy habits 
  "They say walking keeps us young. Should we start walking more?"

You do not need to ask everything at once. Sometimes one casual question is all it takes to start a meaningful conversation.

3 Conditions Worth Asking About

While there are many health conditions that can occur within families, here are three common ones to start asking about because they’re silent, and simple to check. If a parent or sibling is diagnosed with one of them, it does not mean you will have it too. It simply gives you one more reason to be curious and find out.

Type 2 diabetes

It is estimated that around one in three Singaporeans could develop diabetes in their lifetime. ¹ If a parent or sibling has type 2 diabetes, your own risk may be higher. But age, activity levels, bodyweight and other health factors matter too.

Early-stage diabetes often has no obvious symptoms, and when signs do appear, such as increased thirst, frequent urination or unexplained fatigue, they can be easy to dismiss. A blood glucose or HbA1c test can help uncover what symptoms alone may not. Your GP can talk you through what the test result means and what happens next.

High blood pressure

High blood pressure is just as common, affecting around one in three adults here, yet many do not know they have it. ² It often runs in families, partly through inherited tendencies and partly through the habits a household shares.

The check for blood pressure is as simple as a cuff on your arm and a few minutes of your time using a blood pressure monitor. If a parent or sibling has it, those few minutes are well worth your time.

High cholesterol

Cholesterol is shaped partly by how you live and partly by the genes you are born with, which is why it can sometimes trace a line through a family.

Some families carry an inherited condition called familial hypercholesterolaemia, which causes cholesterol levels to be unusually high from a young age and increases the risk of early heart disease. ³

A lipid blood test is the only way to know your numbers. If they are high, your GP can help you understand what they mean and whether changes to your diet and activity levels, medication or both may help protect your heart.

What these three conditions have in common

Diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol may look like three separate conditions. But they often overlap, and each can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. When more than one condition is present, that risk may rise further.

In 2024, ischaemic heart disease accounted for 19.6% of deaths in Singapore, while cerebrovascular diseases, including stroke, accounted for another 5.6%. ⁴ Diabetes is also a major cause of kidney failure. ⁵

Care close to home

Once you know what health conditions or risks run in your family, the next question is what it means for you. That is where your GP can help.

Share what you know about your family's health, even if it is patchy. Your GP can weigh it alongside your age, lifestyle and overall health, recommend the right checks, and help you make sense of the results. Eligible Singapore Citizens enrolled in Healthier SG can receive fully subsidised nationally-recommended screenings at their enrolled clinic, so cost may be one less barrier to getting checked. ⁶ Together with your GP, a decision can then be made on any follow-up plans.

“When a patient can tell me what runs in their family, it genuinely helps. If a parent had high blood pressure or diabetes, I know what to check first, and we can keep an eye on it together over the years rather than waiting for a problem to appear.”

Dr Jonathan Tan Zi Yang, Family Physician 
Silver Cross Family Clinic (Yishun)

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References

1. Ministry of Health, Diabetes: The War Continues (one in three Singaporeans has a lifetime risk of developing diabetes). https://www.moh.gov.sg/newsroom/diabetes-the-war-continues/
2. Ministry of Health, National Population Health Survey 2022. https://www.moh.gov.sg/others/resources-and-statistics/nphs-2022/
3. Ministry of Health, Launch of the National Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Genetic Testing Programme, 2025. https://www.moh.gov.sg/newsroom/launch-of-national-familial-hypercholesterolaemia-genetic-testing-programme-/
4. Ministry of Health, Principal Causes of Death, 2024. https://www.moh.gov.sg/others/resources-and-statistics/principal-causes-of-death/
5. National Kidney Foundation Singapore, Diabetic Nephropathy. https://nkfs.org/kidney-failure/diabetic-nephropathy/
6. Ministry of Health, Healthier SG Screening (fully subsidised nationally recommended screenings for enrolled Singapore Citizens). https://www.moh.gov.sg/managing-expenses/schemes-and-subsidies/healthier-sg-screening/
7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Diabetes Risk Factors (a parent or sibling with type 2 diabetes raises risk). https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/risk-factors/index.html