How to Draw a Family Pedigree Things to include: • First name or initials of relatives • Affected status (i.e. who in the family has disease) for each individual in the family • Age of all family members, or age at death • Whether individuals are living or deceased. Cause of death, if known, should be indicated below the symbol. • Key to shading of symbols • Date the pedigree was made Pedigree symbols: • Squares represent males and circles represent females. •
A slash through the symbol indicates that the individual is deceased. •
Shading indicates the disease of interest affects an individual. •
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Horizontal lines connecting individuals indicates that they are mating partners. Branches coming off of mating partners indicate offspring. General guidelines: •
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It is helpful to start in the middle of the page when drawing a pedigree. Male partners are to the left of female partners. Siblings are drawn from oldest to youngest with the oldest listed on the left and the youngest on the right. If there are multiple disorders or diseases, use quadrants or different shading (solid, cross-­‐hatching) to indicate each disease (see examples) Sample family pedigree: