Effects of family history and personal experience of illness on inclination to change health related behavior

The aim of the present study was to examine how personal experience of illness and family history of cardiovascular disease (CVD), adjusted for gender, education and nationality, affects risk behaviour. Subjects were 2054 men and women of age 50 from two countries, Sweden (n=1011) and Poland (n=1043), who were recruited from screening program in primary health care. Family history, personal experience and risk behaviours (smoking habits, exercise habits, BMI-level) were self-reported. The results show that smoking behaviour is affected by personal experience of illness but not by family history of CVD. No effects of these variables were found on the remaining risk related variables that were tested in this study. These results suggest that individuals with a personal experience of illness may be inclined to change smoking behaviour more than the average person. Smoking prevention strategies may thus benefit from targeting this group in particular.