Detecting Familial Hypercholesterolaemia: Escaping the Family History?

Abstract

Over time, family life has lost ground in Western societies. Migration, fewer children per family, the emancipation of women and children, the rise of the number of divorces and other factors have contributed to a process of individualization, which, at least in Western Europe, has caused family bonds to grow less important (NWO 2003). In response to the question ‘who am I?’, fewer people are likely to refer to the family in which they were raised as the defining factor, while more will point to their own particular choices and achievements. Most look at themselves primarily as an individual rather than as a family member. In combination with this development, the naturalness of the family bond and contact among relatives — out of a sense of duty or habit — has increasingly been replaced with a preference for self-chosen contacts. With some relatives, one is in touch, but other relatives one rarely meets if at all.