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Start free with EleplanEmery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy
ORPHA:261Disease
Also called EDMD
What it is
A neuromuscular disease that is characterized by muscular weakness and atrophy, with early joint contractures and cardiomyopathy.
Key facts
- Prevalence
- 1-9 / 1 000 000 (Europe)
- Age of onset
- Childhood
- Inheritance
- Autosomal dominant, Autosomal recessive, X-linked recessive
- Classified as
- Disease
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.
Signs and symptoms
Very common80–99%
7Common30–79%
20- Absent muscle fiber emerin
- Achilles tendon contracture
- Back pain
- Decreased cervical spine flexion due to contractures of posterior cervical muscles
- Elbow flexion contracture
- EMG: myopathic abnormalities
- Gait disturbance
- Hypertriglyceridemia
- Increased LDL cholesterol concentration
- Proximal lower limb amyotrophy
- Proximal muscle weakness in lower limbs
- Proximal muscle weakness in upper limbs
- Proximal upper limb amyotrophy
- Rimmed vacuoles
- Scapular winging
- Spinal rigidity
- Sprengel anomaly
- Tip-toe gait
- Type 1 muscle fiber atrophy
- Waddling gait
Sometimes5–29%
11- Atrioventricular block
- Dilated cardiomyopathy
- Hyperlordosis
- Hypotonia
- Ichthyosis
- Kyphosis
- Lipodystrophy
- Obesity
and 3 more in this range
These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.
Genes reported in subtypes
Orphanet records these genes on 3 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.
Benefit programs to look at
Programs whose eligibility touches the same ICD-10 categories. Eligibility is decided by the administering agency, never by this page.
Cross-references
Orphadata Science: Free access data from Orphanet. © INSERM 1999. Data version 2026-06-23. Available under CC BY 4.0. This is a reference, not medical advice.
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