arrhythmia

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Definition

An arrhythmia is an abnormality in the heart's rhythm, or heartbeat pattern. The heartbeat can be too slow, too fast, have extra beats, skip a beat, or otherwise beat irregularly.

Description

Arrhythmias are deviations from the normal cadence of the heartbeat, which cause the heart to pump improperly. The normal heartbeat starts in the right atrium, where the heart's natural pacemaker (the sinus node) sends an electrical signal to the center of the heart to the atrioventricular node. The atrioventricular node then sends signals into the main pumping chamber to make the ventricle contract. Arrhythmias occur when the heartbeat starts in a part of the heart other than the sinus node, an abnormal rate or rhythm develops in the sinus node, or a heart conduction "block" prevents the electrical signal from traveling down the normal pathway.

More than four million Americans have arrhythmias, most of which are harmless. Middle-aged adults commonly experience arrhythmias. As people age, the probability of experiencing an arrhythmia increases. Arrhythmias often occur in people who do not have heart disease. In people with heart disease, it is usually the heart disease which is dangerous, not the arrhythmia. Arrhythmias often occur during and after heart attacks. Some types of arrhythmias, such as ventricular tachycardia, are serious and even life threatening. In the United States, arrhythmias are the primary cause of sudden cardiac death, accounting for more than 350,000 deaths each year.

Slow heart rates (less than 60 beats per minute) are called bradycardias, while fast heart rates (more than 100 beats per minute) are called tachycardias. Bradycardia can result in poor circulation of blood, and, hence, a lack of oxygen throughout the body, especially the brain. Tachycardias also can compromise the heart's ability to pump effectively because the ventricles do not have enough time to completely fill.

Arrhythmias are characterized by their site of origin: the atria or the ventricles. Supraventricular arrhythmias occur in the upper areas of the heart and are less serious than ventricular arrhythmias. Ventricular fibrillation is the most serious arrhythmia and is fatal unless medical help is immediate.

— Lori De Milto

An irregularity in the force or rhythm of the heartbeat.

[New Latin, from Greek arruthmiā, lack of rhythm, from arruthmos, unrhythmical : a-, without; see a–¹ + rhuthmos, rhythm; see rhythm.]

A variation from the normal rhythm of the heart.

For more information on arrhythmia, visit Britannica.com.

An irregular heartbeat. It may be produced by various heart diseases that affect the mechanism controlling the rhythm of the heartbeat. Sinus arrhythmia is a normal deviation in the rhythm of the heart beat, which accelerates during inspirations.

Variation from the normal rhythm, especially of the heartbeat. See also bradycardia, tachycardia.

• atrial a. — see atrial flutter, atrial fibrillation.
• bradycardic a. — see bradyarrhythmia.
• benign a. — one which is clinically insignificant.
• cardiac a. — irregularity of the normal heart rhythm, either in frequency or amplitude, or almost always both.
• exercise-induced a. — a cause of poor racing performance or sudden death while racing; detectable only by telemetered electrocardiography.
• sinus a. — the physiological cyclic variation in heart rate related to vagal impulses to the sinoatrial node.
• supraventricular a's — see sinoatrial arrest, atrial tachycardia, supraventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation.
• ventricular a's — see premature heartbeats, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation.