Ehlers–Danlos Syndromes

### What you need to know Awareness of the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) in the UK has risen over the past decade, in part due to high profile of EDS patient organisations and the EDS National Diagnostic Service commissioned in 2009. Significant advances in genetic testing have culminated in the publication of a new international classification in 2017 with 13 types identified.1 Clinicians will see an increasing number of patients, some of whom will suspect a diagnosis of EDS themselves. This article is intended to support non-specialist clinicians to consider the diagnosis of this group of conditions in appropriate patients. It discusses the features of the different types of EDS and explains how clinicians can expect their patients to be managed in secondary care. ### How this article was created The authors are members of the International Consortium on Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes and Related Disorders and participated in literature searches used for the basis of the articles written on the new classification of EDS published in 2017. The authors have more than 10 years’ experience of EDS patient consultations and data collection in the highly specialised EDS service. Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) refer to a group of inherited connective tissue …