Cardiac arrhythmia (or irregular heartbeat) is a disease of the cardiovascular system, which is characterized by any heart rhythm disturbances. The phenomenon is associated with a change in the regularity, frequency and sequence of heart contractions, the heartbeat can be either too frequent (the development of tachycardia), or too slow (the development of bradycardia). Some cases of arrhythmias can lead to cardiac arrest. Arrhythmia occurs at any age, in the upper and lower chambers of the heart, atria and ventricles, respectively. Some types of the disease are barely noticeable, while others are more dramatic and result in death. Cardiac arrhythmia is considered one of the most common causes of death.
The mechanism of normal heart rhythm
To understand what arrhythmia is, the reasons for its appearance, you should understand how myocardial contraction generally occurs. The mechanism of the normal heart rhythm is provided by the conductive cardiac system, which is an accumulation of special highly specialized cells. These cells create electrical impulses and conduct them through special fibers that activate the heart muscle. Despite the ability of each node in the system to generate impulses to the heart muscle, the main link here remains the sinus node, which sets the necessary rhythm. It is located at the top of the right atrium. The pulses generated by the sinus node, like the sun's rays, propagate from it in all directions. Some impulses "are responsible" for the contraction or arousal of the atria, while others help to slow down the contractions so that the atria have time to send another portion of blood to the ventricles. This ensures the normal rhythm of our heart. Its violation can be caused by two problems:
- violation of the process of pulse formation;
- violation of the generated pulses in the cardiac system.
With such problems, the next node in the chain assumes "responsibility" for maintaining the heart rate, but the frequency of contractions decreases. This is how arrhythmia develops, the reasons for which we will consider a little later.
Types of Arrhythmia
Doctors classify arrhythmias depending not only on the place where they occur (atria or ventricles), but also on the heart rate. A fast heartbeat with a heart rate of more than 100 beats per minute is called tachycardia, and a slow heart rate of less than 60 beats per minute is called bradycardia. The causes of cardiac arrhythmias directly depend on the type of disease.
Tachycardia or bradycardia does not always mean heart disease. For example, during physical exertion, a fast heartbeat is considered the norm, since an increase in heart rate allows you to provide body tissues with oxygen. During sleep or deep relaxation, the heartbeat is usually slower.
If tachycardia occurs in the atria, then in this case, the disorder is classified as follows:
- Atrial fibrillation is a rapid heartbeat caused by the randomness of electrical impulses in the atria. These signals lead to a quick, inconsistent, or weak contraction of the heart muscle. The causes of atrial cardiac arrhythmias are the convulsive chaotic activity of the ventricles, which usually occurs against the background of other cardiovascular diseases. A phenomenon such as atrial fibrillation can cause serious complications, such as a stroke.
- Flutter - similar to atrial fibrillation, while electrical impulses are more organized and rhythmic than with fibrillation. Flutter also leads to stroke.
- Supraventricular tachycardia or supraventricular tachycardia, which includes many forms of arrhythmia that occurs above the ventricles.
Tachycardia that occurs in the ventricles is divided into the following subspecies:
- Ventricular tachycardia - is a fast regular heartbeat with abnormal electrical signals in the ventricles. This prevents the full filling of the ventricles and prevents the effective pumping of blood.
- Ventricular fibrillation is an arrhythmia, the reasons for which are ineffective blood pumping due to trembling of the ventricles. This is a rather serious problem, which often ends in death if the heart cannot restore its normal rhythm within a few minutes. Most people who experience ventricular fibrillation either have serious heart conditions or have experienced serious injury, such as a lightning strike.
Not always a low heart rate means that a person develops bradycardia. If you are in good physical shape, then the heart is able to pump a sufficient amount of blood and at 60 beats per minute at rest. Some drugs can also reduce heart rate. However, if you have a slow heart rate and your heart does not pump enough blood, you may have one of several types of bradycardia.
- Sinus arrhythmia, the causes of which are due to the weakness of the sinus node.
- Blockade of excitation of electrical impulses between the atria and ventricles. In this case, the patient may experience missed strokes of the heart muscle.
- Premature contraction of the heart - occurs in the ventricles between two normal strokes.
Causes of Cardiac Arrhythmia
A healthy person is unlikely to ever suffer from such problems. When cardiac arrhythmia occurs, its causes are caused by various factors negative for the body. These can be changes in the heart muscle, coronary heart disease, electrolyte imbalance in the blood, injuries after a heart attack, healing processes after heart surgery, and others. Heart rate is also associated with anxiety, physical activity, and medication.
It is important to understand that when a person has arrhythmia, the causes and treatment of the disease for each age category of patients will be different. In children, for example, the disease occurs due to some factors, in adults - others. For a disease such as cardiac arrhythmia, general causes can be identified in the list:
- Disorders that damage the heart and valves (endocarditis, myocarditis, rheumatism).
- Thyroid Disorders.
- Hereditary factors.
- Dehydration or lack of potassium in the body or other electrolytes.
- Heart damage due to a heart attack.
- The healing process after heart surgery.
The risk of getting sick increases with smoking, stress, excessive consumption of caffeine or alcohol, age, high blood pressure, kidney disease, and more.
Cardiac arrhythmia in children
In children, the disease is classified depending on the place of impaired transmission of impulses, i.e. in the ventricles or atria. If arrhythmia occurs in children, its causes should be sought very carefully to increase the child's chances of recovery. Children's atrial arrhythmias include the following disorders:
- premature atrial contractions;
- supraventricular tachycardia;
- atrial fibrillation;
- atrial flutter;
- gastric tachycardia;
- Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome (a condition in which an electrical impulse can arrive in the ventricle too quickly).
Ventricular cardiac abnormalities in childhood include:
- premature ventricular contraction (early or extra heartbeats);
- ventricular tachycardia (a life-threatening condition in which electrical signals come from their ventricles at a variable speed);
- ventricular fibrillation (irregular, disorganized heartbeats).
For children's bradycardia, the following disorders are characteristic:
- Sinus node dysfunction (cardiac arrhythmia in children, the reasons for which are due to the slow rhythm of heart contractions);
- heart block (delay or complete block of an electrical impulse from the sinus node to the ventricles).
Symptoms of arrhythmia depend on the degree of maturity of the child. Older children themselves can talk about dizziness or a feeling of fluttering in the heart. In infants or toddlers, irritability, pallor of the skin, lack of appetite are noted. Some common symptoms of arrhythmia include:
- weakness, fatigue;
- violation of the heart rhythm and pulse;
- dizziness, fainting, or fainting;
- pallor of the skin;
- pain in the chest;
- shortness of breath, sweating;
- lack of appetite;
- irritability.
If cardiac arrhythmia develops in childhood, the causes of the disease are caused by the following factors: infectious diseases, taking certain medications, fever, and fever. More serious causes include congenital malformations. In most cases, arrhythmias in children are harmless. Nevertheless, when there is a change in the heart rhythm in a child’s resting state, outside of games or physical activity, parents should seek professional medical help from a medical institution.
Cardiac arrhythmia in adolescents
If arrhythmia occurs in adolescents, its causes may vary depending on the sinus rhythm. In adolescence, the body is subject to multiple changes, which often becomes the cause of various disorders. Such a phenomenon rarely becomes a pathology, changes most likely occur at the physiological level and disappear over time. However, this does not mean that arrhythmias in adolescents should not be given importance. At the initial stage of the disease, a teenager needs a regular examination by a doctor who will monitor the dynamics of arrhythmia. If the symptoms of the disease do not disappear within 1-2 years, then the adolescent certainly needs treatment.
The most common type of arrhythmia in adolescence is bradycardia. The disease is fraught with the fact that the child’s brain does not receive the necessary amount of oxygen, which entails a deterioration in intellectual abilities, academic performance, a slowdown in reactions, the inability to fully engage in sports and other problems.
The causes of arrhythmias at this age are not always associated with diseases of the cardiovascular system. Endocrine disorders, stress, nervous strain, changes in the hormonal background in a teenager, pulmonary or bronchial diseases, colds, accompanied by fever, etc. can provoke the disease. With vegetative-vascular dystonia, the disease is most often phantom in nature, therefore, in the treatment of such children, it is important to prescribe sedatives and consult psychologists.
Cardiac arrhythmia in women
Women, as a group, present an interesting set of problems for a cardiologist specializing in heart rhythm disturbances. There are monthly changes in certain arrhythmias, in which the heartbeat is a source of discomfort and anxiety for female patients, and there are certain risks when a woman is diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia. The causes, treatment of the disease and its symptoms depend on many different factors that should be considered.
Women have a higher prevalence of sick sinus syndrome, sinus tachycardia, atrioventricular nodular tachycardia, and other types of disease. The causes of arrhythmias in women are associated with a violation of the heart rhythm:
- ventricular tachycardia (comes from the lower chambers of the heart);
- supraventricular tachycardia (occurs in the upper chambers of the heart);
- premature atrial contractions (occur in both the upper and lower chambers of the heart).
It is important to remember that an irregular heartbeat is a symptom of a disease, not a diagnosis. Sometimes, when arrhythmia appears, the causes of its occurrence can be associated with factors such as stress, nervous excitement, emotional upset. However, in these cases, a thorough diagnosis of the disease is necessary to exclude the possibility of more serious causes.
Arrhythmia during pregnancy usually occurs due to a change in the hormonal background of a woman. An increase in the level of estrogen and human chorionic gonadotropin affects the expression of cardiac ion channels, hemodynamic changes are characterized by an increase in the volume of circulating blood and double the cardiac output. In addition, pregnancy increases sympathetic tone. All these changes in the female body contribute to the development of arrhythmia.
Cardiac arrhythmia in men
In men, heart diseases are 2 times more common than in women. The most common forms of the disease are atrioventricular block, sinus syndrome, atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia, Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome, recurrent ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation and sudden death, and Brugada syndrome. The causes of arrhythmias in men are often associated with overweight, alcohol abuse, smoking, lack of physical activity, malnutrition, stress, and certain medications.
Men with heart diseases are especially prone to the development of arrhythmias, since disturbances in the functioning of the heart muscle can cause cardiac arrest or delayed electrical signal from the sinus node to the ventricles. If arrhythmia occurs after eating, the causes of this condition are related to the pressure of the stomach on the diaphragm. In this case, compression of the sternum, pressure on the heart occurs. Causes of arrhythmias in men are also associated with high blood pressure and thyroid hyperactivity, which also increase risks.
Symptoms of the disease in adults
With a disease such as cardiac arrhythmia, symptoms, causes of the disease are closely interrelated. So, for example, when the heart beats faster than usual, the signs of the disease include chest discomfort, palpitations, dizziness, headache, hypertension. With bradycardia, fatigue, dizziness, fainting or fainting, and a drop in blood pressure usually occur.
Symptoms of arrhythmias in adults include general weakness, an increased feeling of fatigue, a violation of the heart rhythm and pulse. With slow heartbeats, the brain does not receive the right amount of oxygen, as a result of which patients notice frequent dizziness, fainting, or fainting, shortness of breath appears and sweating increases. The skin turns pale, sweat. With tachycardia, pain in the chest area is frequent, irritability increases,
If the flutter in the chest area is random, then they do not carry any danger. But if pains in the heart become more frequent, and a person constantly has a feeling of weakness, the pulse becomes irregular, then it is time to consult a doctor.
Arrhythmia Treatment
Most forms of heart disease are considered harmless and do not need treatment. If a person has cardiac arrhythmia, the causes and treatment of the disease usually depend on each other, because doctors choose the method of therapy based on the factors that provoked the disease. Treatment of the disease is usually aimed at preventing blood clots in the bloodstream in order to prevent the risk of stroke, restore normal heart rhythm, control the heart rate in the normal range, and reduce risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.
If the bradycardia that has arisen does not have obvious reasons, doctors usually resort to the use of pacemakers. A pacemaker is a small device that is installed near the collarbone. One or more electrodes with tips emanating from the device send electrical impulses through the blood vessels to the heart and, thus, stimulate regular heart contractions in humans.
For many types of tachycardia, a patient may be prescribed a treatment that allows you to control the heart rate or restore normal heart rhythm. Such therapy allows you to minimize all possible complications. In case of atrial fibrillation, the doctor prescribes blood thinners that prevent the formation of blood clots in the bloodstream. With atrial fibrillation, the patient is prescribed medications using cardioversion, which allows you to restore normal sinus rhythm.
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Prevention
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