What is an inherited condition?

When someone says that a medical condition ‘runs in the family’, they usually mean that one or more people in their family have the condition.

In some cases, those conditions can be the result of genes that parents pass on to their children. When this happens it’s called an inherited condition.

Genes give the instructions about how our bodies look and how our bodies work. Genes are packaged into structures in our cells called chromosomes. Chromosomes are found in each cell of our body.

Sometimes there are changes in the genes that are passed from a parent to their child. In other cases, there can be extra or missing chromosomes, or parts of chromosomes that are passed from a parent to a child. Sometimes healthy parents can have a gene or chromosome change that may cause health concerns for their children.

These changes may cause physical or cognitive health challenges.

Examples of inherited conditions include cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy.