Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

What it is

A heterogeneous group of diseases characterized by fragility of the soft connective tissues resulting in widespread skin, ligament, joint, blood vessel and/or internal organ manifestations. Clinical spectrum is highly variable, ranging from mild skin and joint hyperlaxity to severe physical disability and life-threatening vascular complications. Overlap with osteogenesis imperfecta may be observed resulting in an EDS/osteogenesis imperfecta overlap phenotype. Diseases in this group include classical Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), musculocontractural EDS, hypermobile EDS, vascular EDS, arthrochalasia EDS, dermatosparaxis EDS, periodontal EDS, X-linked EDS, brittle cornea syndrome, classical-like EDS type 1 and type 2, cardiac-valvular EDS, spondylodysplastic EDS, myopathic EDS, and kyphoscoliotic EDS.

Key facts

Prevalence

1-9 / 1 000 000 (at birth, Europe)

Age of onset

Infancy, Neonatal

Inheritance

Autosomal dominant, Autosomal recessive, X-linked recessive

Classified as

Clinical group

Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.

Genes reported in subtypes

Orphanet records these genes on 13 more specific entries under this disorder, not on this entry itself:

A well-studied disease is usually split into subtypes, and the gene is curated on whichever one the evidence belongs to. Open a subtype to see which gene goes with it.

ICD-10 codes

ICD-10 has no distinct code for most rare diseases, so many are filed under the nearest available one. A shared code identifies the group, not this disease — the ORPHAcode above is what identifies it.

Related health topics

Reached through the ICD-10 categories this disease is filed under, so these describe the broader group rather than this disease specifically.

Cross-references