If you have a medical condition, were you ever asked your history?

[Ohalla]

I was thinking about this recently. I seem to have bad luck and have a few medical conditions, two of them that came on in adulthood and all ones that they dont really know what causes it.
No one has ever asked me my history like Did I smoke, did I do drugs, did I eat lots of processed foods or was I a vegetarian etc?
Only reason I wonder is conspiracy theorists on support groups I’m on always run wild with the ‘covid vaccines did it to us’ or similar, and although clearly that’s to fit an agenda, it’s surprising they don’t gather data once you’re diagnosed to maybe help advance information with the why?
I know there are medical studies that limited people can take part in but surely it would be more efficient to ask everyone questions when diagnosed and then send it over and then have masses of data.
Equally my sister had a rare short term illness (hospitalised) and no one has ever checked in on her since to know that she suddenly needed glasses two years later or whatever. Whereas the two could be connected, they just don’t know?
if you have one, were you asked any questions?

Well presumably medical professionals only ask questions that are actually relevant to your diagnosis. I’d be livid if someone started grilling me about the stuff you’ve mentioned when it has zero relevance to the conditions I have.

That said, I think there are some studies that gather various data to look for correlations. I think what you’re effectively asking is are people doing totally unscientific, ad hoc scientific research with people who haven’t consented to be part of a study.

The consultant dermatologist who diagnosed my psoriasis asked if there was a family history of it (there is) and was livid that I’d been misdiagnosed with eczema given this fact (his letter had the diagnosis underlined heavily twice).

TBH, it's rare that any doctor has been interested in my medical present, let alone my history. I stopped going years ago - waste of time.

I've always found that as part of any diagnostic process, I've been asked questions about my history and lifestyle.

But they don’t know what’s relevant if they don’t ask the questions?

Always.
It seems difficult to have a medical appt without being asked if I smoke or drink, or ever have done.
Then most early diagnostic appointments ask about family medical history too, as well as my own.

Separately from that, there are at least two HUGE medical research projects going on at the moment, looking at all sorts of information and patterns UK Biobank has been going for many years already, and there is a newer one whose name escapes me at the moment, that I've been asked to be part of several times.

Because collecting a load of random lifestyle data in your medical notes isn't research? It's not like it goes in a big database for someone to browse.

There will be studies done.

Absolutely.
Medical knowledge about causation of illness is gained through proper and rigorous research studies not from your GP having a quick chat with you and forming their own ideas. This is how we know about the causes of e.g. cancer, dementia, heart attacks etc.
That said, if a health care professional care professional noticed a new trend they may discuss with colleagues/researchers or apply to do their own (formal) research

Nope.
It is one of the things that my DSIS noticed when she was living in the USA. They took time, not only to ask about her medical history, but also our parents medical history. She was subsequently diagnosed with a condition that our DF had also suffered from.

I’ve noticed in the last 3 years as a parent of dc with multiple medical issues that we’ve been asked at every appointment about how they were fed - ff, bf or mixed and wanting details. I asked one why and was told that it’s stated so often that ‘you can’t tell who was ff/bf’ with nothing to back that up but they are now asking to build up a better picture of how those with certain conditions were fed as infants

Our future health?

There are big studies in other countries too

Your GP or consultant asking endless lifestyle questions unless there's a known link isn't going to do anything.

Yes. I had cancer in my early 20s. I was asked over and over again about my travel habits. The presumption was that I must have been exposed to the Chernobyl disaster or perhaps I was a nuclear technician because it was the only way at the time they could explain my cancer.

in retrospect, I have an autoimmune condition and my body did it to itself.

Managing the data outside of a trial is incredibly difficult and costly and hospital systems don't talk to each other so you can't just data scrape them (and there are also massive data security and patient consent issues over that as well) so data has to be put into individual trial databases, then you have to ask the right questions, work out what the boundaries are and many more things.
I've been involved in a relatively small trial (1000 patients) where the trial intervention isn't funded centrally, the professional partners are few and very motivated and even so, it costs about $5 million a year to run and getting good follow up data is really hard.

Nobody would ever answer a question about how much processed foods they eat accurately. They'd either miscalculate or lie. Same with drinking. What types of questions would you want to be asked? They only need to know certain information at any given time. If there was a study relating to that illness and it's causes them they would pull up data or interview people to try and see if there's a link.
It really depends on the type of illness you're talking about as well. I have osteperosis, and I was never even told. My bone density was minus 4.7 at age 41. But they didn't think they needed to tell me. But they did know my weight, and know my smoking and drinking status.
I think they'd ask that of everyone?

Yes, Thanks @FiveTreeHill

Yes. And despite saying no to do I smoke in 2014, I'm still asked that today. So annoying

I work in a nursing field where these questions are essential. Family history, personal history, lifestyle such as smoking and drinking because they are all factors that can increase your likelihood of developing certain conditions. We also ask about lifestyle and changes to health at each review.

They didn't tell you you had osteoporosis?! So they decided to do a DEXA scan and then didn't give you the results?

Yes, I was diagnosed with a cancer which is prevalent amongst much older people, mostly men and usually smokers or those having worked with certain chemicals. Medics are quite interested in my history as I don't fit the typical profile.

Yes, I’ve been asked whether I have ever smoked twice in the last week!

The two times I've seen a consultant they each asked about my history - but only as relevant to the symptoms in question.

So neither asked about smoking as it wasn't relevant, one asked about alcohol as it was relevant, and both asked about family history as they were heritable conditions.

Neither asked me my whole medical history down to why I wore glasses and TBH as I was paying to see them, I'm glad they didn't as it would have been wasting my money.

I think you’re ver much overestimating how useful that kind of data is, OP. It’s just a load of self reported, quantitative data. There would be loads of incidental correlation.

I had a letter to see if I wanted to participate with this https://ourfuturehealth.org.uk/
I think this is the kind of progress in healthcare the country needs, rather than people signing away their DNA to 23&Me, I'd rather use it for research to help everyone.

Taking a patient’s history (social, family, medical) is the cornerstone of medicine to understand risk factors, interactions, and consider differential diagnoses that could result in the same symptoms. I am surprised that you have never been asked those questions eg do you smoke? You should have been asked to fill in a healthcare questionnaire by your GP when you joined.

Were you diagnosed by your GP who would have had access to your medical records and history? They may have already had all the information they needed to make a likely diagnosis that could be confirmed easily by tests.