In building a family history pedigree for genetic risk assessment, how many generations are typically included?

• A. One generation
• B. Three generations
• C. Four generations
• D. Two generations

Answer: (B)

Understanding genetic risk assessment relies on seeing how a trait passes through family lines. Including three generations—the patient, both parents, and both sets of grandparents—gives enough information to observe how conditions segregate across generations. This setup helps identify patterns consistent with autosomal dominant or recessive inheritance, X-linked traits, and other modes of transmission, which in turn informs recurrence risk for future children. One or two generations don’t provide enough generations to detect how a trait is inherited, while three generations hit the standard minimum needed for a meaningful assessment.