GSD IV is autosomal recessive, which means each parent has a mutant copy of the gene but shows no symptoms of the disease.

Having an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern, males and females are equally likely to be affected by Andersen's disease.

The long unbranched molecules have low solubility, leading to glycogen precipitation in the liver.

[citation needed] An assay of amylo-1,4 → 1,6 glucan transferases (which removes a block of 6 glucose residues from the 1,4 position and attaches it to the 1,6 position of the same chain)[citation needed] Alternative names in medical literature for the disease include:[citation needed] Mutations in GBE1 can also cause a milder disease in adults that is called adult polyglucosan body disease.

[citation needed] The disease has been reported in the Norwegian Forest Cat, where it causes skeletal muscle, heart, and CNS degeneration in animals greater than five months old.