Relating to or characteristic of a family. In medicine, refers to conditions that run in families due to genetic factors.
From Latin familia 'household, family' + -al suffix. The medical sense emphasizing genetic inheritance developed in the 20th century with advances in genetics.
Familial hypercholesterolemia affects 1 in 500 people and can cause heart attacks in teenagers, yet it's often undiagnosed because high cholesterol is assumed to be lifestyle-related rather than genetic.
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