The 1q21.1 recurrent deletion itself does not lead to a clinically recognizable syndrome, as some persons with the deletion have no obvious clinical findings. Others have variable findings that most commonly include mildly dysmorphic but nonspecific facial features (>75%), mild intellectual disability or learning disabilities (25%), microcephaly (43%), and eye abnormalities (26%). Other findings can include cardiac defects, genitourinary anomalies, skeletal malformations, joint laxity, and seizures (~23%). Psychiatric and behavioral abnormalities can include autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and sleep disturbances. Sensorineural hearing loss and recurrent infections /otitis media are rare.

Myotonic dystrophy type 2 (DM2) is characterized by myotonia and muscle dysfunction (proximal and axial weakness, myalgia, and stiffness), and less commonly by posterior subcapsular cataracts, cardiac conduction defects, insulin-insensitive type 2 diabetes mellitus, and other endocrine abnormalities. While myotonia (involuntary muscle contraction with delayed relaxation) has been reported during the first decade, onset is typically in the third to fourth decade, most commonly with fluctuating or episodic muscle pain that can be debilitating and proximal and axial weakness of the neck flexors and the hip flexors. Subsequently, weakness occurs in the elbow extensors and finger flexors. Facial weakness and weakness of the ankle dorsiflexors are less common. Myotonia rarely causes severe symptoms. In a subset of individuals, calf hypertrophy in combination with brisk reflexes is notable.

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is a multisystem disorder that affects skeletal and smooth muscle as well as the eye, heart, endocrine system, and central nervous system. The clinical findings, which span a continuum from mild to severe, have been categorized into three somewhat overlapping phenotypes: mild, classic, and congenital. Mild DM1 is characterized by cataract and mild myotonia (sustained muscle contraction); life span is normal. Classic DM1 is characterized by muscle weakness and wasting, myotonia, cataract, and often cardiac conduction abnormalities; adults may become physically disabled and may have a shortened life span. Congenital DM1 is characterized by hypotonia and severe generalized weakness at birth, often with respiratory insufficiency and early death; intellectual disability is common.

ReNU syndrome (RENU), also known as neurodevelopmental disorder with hypotonia, brain anomalies, distinctive facies, and absent language (NEDHAFA), is characterized by hypotonia, global developmental delay, severely impaired intellectual development with poor or absent speech, delayed walking or inability to walk, feeding difficulties with poor overall growth, seizures (in most), dysmorphic facial features, and brain anomalies, including ventriculomegaly, thin corpus callosum, and progressive white matter loss (Greene et al., 2024; Schot et al., 2024; Chen et al., 2024).