Cardiac arrhythmia in a 14-year-old teenager: in what cases is he admitted to the hospital?

Arrhythmia in adolescents

Doctors' close attention to arrhythmia—a heartbeat that is too fast, too slow, or an uneven, jagged rhythm—is justified: in some cases, arrhythmia can cause cardiac arrest.
A child's life is rarely threatened by cardiac arrhythmias. Arrhythmias of a physiological nature are much more common; they are detected by chance during a routine examination by a pediatrician. Usually, no special treatment is required, but the teenager is under the supervision of doctors. If the arrhythmia is frequent and becomes permanent - failures have been observed for more than two years, treatment is necessary, without it the cavities of the heart can expand, and heart failure will occur

Arrhythmias of a physiological nature are much more common; they are detected by chance during a routine examination by a pediatrician. Usually no special treatment is required, but the teenager is under medical supervision. If the arrhythmia is frequent and becomes permanent - failures have been observed for more than two years, treatment is necessary, without it the cavities of the heart can expand, and heart failure will occur

A child's life is rarely threatened by cardiac arrhythmias. Arrhythmias of a physiological nature are much more common; they are detected by chance during a routine examination by a pediatrician. Usually no special treatment is required, but the teenager is under medical supervision. If the arrhythmia is frequent and becomes permanent - failures are observed for more than two years, treatment is necessary, without it the cavities of the heart can expand, and heart failure will occur.

Recently, doctors have been observing many cases of bradycardia (very rare heartbeats) in schoolchildren. If earlier doctors did not attach much importance to these disorders, now the view of bradycardia among specialists has changed.

Firstly, when the heart pumps blood slowly, the child quickly gets tired, the brain is less well supplied with oxygen, it becomes more and more difficult for the teenager to withstand intellectual stress, and it is more difficult to study.

Secondly, with prolonged existence of an arrhythmia such as bradycardia, heart failure may develop.

Third, as we age, bradycardia often progresses to tachycardia (too fast a pulse), which can cause chaotic atrial contraction, the most common cardiac arrhythmia in adults.

Attentive attention to the heart rhythm, especially in adolescence, is also important because its deviations from the norm can be a manifestation of many other problems not related to the work of the heart: endocrine, neurological, pulmonary. Even a common cold can affect your heart rate: raising your temperature by one degree increases your heart rate by about 10 beats per minute.

When children suffering from vegetative-vascular dystonia complain of rapid heartbeat, this is due to their increased sensitivity and heightened attention to the work of the heart. Experts call such ari and recommend drinking soothing herbal infusions, and in some cases they advise contacting a child psychologist: the cause of tachycardia may also be hidden chronic stress. If the child has never had an electrocardiogram, parents should take the initiative themselves and ask the pediatrician for a referral

If the child has never had an electrocardiogram, parents should take the initiative themselves and ask the pediatrician for a referral

It is especially important to do a cardiogram for a child who has hearing problems. According to some reports, up to 20 percent of children who are deaf from birth suffer from dangerous heart rhythm disturbances. The reasons for the phenomenon are not fully understood

According to one version, the basis of these diseases is damage to the same areas of nervous tissue

The reasons for the phenomenon are not fully understood. According to one version, the basis of these diseases is damage to the same areas of nervous tissue.

Before enrolling your son in a sports section, be sure to check his heart. In children who regularly exercise, the heart becomes a “weightlifter” due to the large volume of blood that has to be pumped during intense exercise. Every second young man with an increased heart mass has low blood pressure and a slow pulse.

Teenagers who have detected changes in heart rhythm should pay attention to their daily routine. The child must get enough sleep. Contrast showers, swimming, cycling and skiing will be useful

Contrast showers, swimming, cycling and skiing will be useful.

Prevention and prognosis

Cycling can help prevent heart disease in your child.

To prevent the development of arrhythmia in a teenager, it is important for parents to monitor the child’s daily routine. There should be enough time for rest and sleep. Children are recommended to sleep at least 8 hours. It is important to protect your child from stress and excessive physical activity. However, sports should not be completely excluded. Doctors recommend that teenagers take daily walks in the fresh air, ride a bike, and visit the gym or swimming pool.

An important preventative measure is a balanced diet. Sweet, fatty, salty, smoked, spicy and sour foods should be limited. Instead, children should be given fruits and vegetables, dairy products, cereals and eggs. Young patients should not be taught to drink caffeine-containing drinks from an early age.

As for the prognosis, it is purely individual, this is due to different mechanisms of arrhythmia development. However, if parents are attentive to the child’s health and regularly attend medical examinations, the pathology can be identified in the early stages, which will allow timely therapy, cure the disease and avoid serious complications.

Classification

The meaning of the word arrhythmia from ancient Greek - awkwardness - perfectly defines the cause of the disease. Disturbance in the functioning of a certain area of ​​the heart muscle where the heart rate is generated (sinoatrial node) and causes arrhythmia in the child. If the heart rate slows down, becomes less than 60 beats per minute, they speak of bradycardia. If the heart rate exceeds 100 beats per minute, this is already tachycardia. Both deviations from the norm may indicate the development of both heart disease and diseases of the autonomic and endocrine systems.

Causes of arrhythmia in adolescence

When consuming large amounts of energy drinks, arrhythmia may occur.
The root cause of arrhythmia lies in a change in the conditions for the formation of excitations of the heart muscle. The abnormal development of the cardiac conduction system affects the heart rhythm. Cardiac causes include such serious diseases as heart failure, acquired or congenital heart disease, cardiomyopathy, and infectious diseases. An accelerated heart rate caused by physical activity, problems at school, abuse of “energy” drinks, or sleep disturbances is not a pathology. This manifests itself as sinus arrhythmia of the heart. The reason for its occurrence lies in the imbalance of the vegetative-vascular system, its inability to adequately respond to changes occurring in the body.

How does arrhythmia manifest itself?

The body of a teenager during puberty undergoes significant hormonal changes. Increased production of estrogen and testosterone affects the emotional background of the future adult. Other symptoms accompany tearfulness and irritability:

• frequent attacks of dizziness,
• muscle weakness, lethargy,
• physical activity causes painful symptoms in the heart area,
• disturbances in the blood circulation of the brain lead to a decrease in concentration and the ability to remember information in the required volume.

Causes

Often, sinus arrhythmia in a child occurs due to the following factors:

• increased physical activity;
• stressful situations;
• increase in temperature indicators;
• infectious diseases;
• changes in hormonal levels;
• use of certain types of medications.

The factors listed above do not require special treatment, since they are considered a physiological reaction of the body. However, there are also pathological factors that can pose a health hazard. Cardiac arrhythmia in adolescents can be caused by the following reasons:

• vegetative-vascular dysfunction;
• tendency to neuroses;
• foci of chronic infection;
• electrolyte imbalance;
• lack of calcium and potassium in the body.

Return to contents

What is cardiac arrhythmia?

Any disorder of the rhythm and beating of the heart muscle is called arrhythmia. The term is used to refer to the irregular functioning of the heart, which is expressed in unequal time intervals between beats.

When a patient is diagnosed with sinus arrhythmia, he is interested in what it is. Pathology is detected when the heart rhythm fails due to changes in the functioning of the pacemaker - the sinus node. This node is located in the area of ​​the right atrium; it produces signals moving from top to bottom.

Sinus arrhythmia of the heart demonstrates the degree of adaptation of the heart to stress; it is a kind of indicator of human health. If the heart muscle constantly functions at the same rhythm, then this indicates depletion of the organ’s abilities. A similar phenomenon is found in heart failure and coronary artery disease.

The disease is often physiological in nature and is detected during deep breathing, after overeating, or nervous stress.

Depending on the speed of passage of the electrical signal through the cardiac tissue of an adult, they differentiate:

• healthy sinus rhythm – 60-90 beats per minute;
• accelerated – above 100 beats per minute (tachycardia);
• slow – below 50 beats per minute (bradycardia).

The World Health Organization has developed an international classification of diseases, where each disorder is assigned a code. Sinus arrhythmia according to ICD 10 has code I49 “Other cardiac arrhythmias.”

Symptoms

Sinus arrhythmia of the heart is accompanied by a sudden increase in frequency and then a slowdown in beats. Symptoms of sinus arrhythmia include:

• difficulty breathing;
• rapid heartbeat;
• recurrent attacks of weakness;
• pain in the left side of the chest;
• dizziness;
• short-term darkening of the eyes;
• sudden changes in heart rate.

With serious circulatory dysfunction leading to a lack of oxygen to the brain, the patient loses consciousness.

Moderate form

Moderate sinus arrhythmia does not manifest itself clearly. This is due to the fact that the sinus node continues to be the pacemaker. This form is usually detected in children and adolescents who do not feel any discomfort.

Severe episodes

Severe sinus arrhythmia is accompanied by intense pulsation in the temples, severe attacks of weakness, and the patient loses consciousness. Therapy for severe forms should begin as early as possible, since the condition may be complicated by cerebral circulatory dysfunction.

Heart arythmy

Signs on ECG

Very often, an ECG is the only method for detecting sinus arrhythmia. To document sinus dysfunction, you need to do a regular electrocardiogram.

Sinus arrhythmia on an ECG in an adult is manifested by certain signs:

• sinus rhythm - the P wave is characterized by a positive value in lead 2, a negative value in lead aVR, the electrical axis is localized in the values ​​of age standards;
• repeating changes in RR intervals - with dysfunctions of a physiological nature, the intervals change smoothly, with organic disorders - spasmodically;
• Due to the absence of differences in the duration of RR intervals during inspiratory cessation of breathing, it is usually observed in adolescents.

Moderate sinus arrhythmia on the ECG in children under 14 years of age is normal. A similar condition does not need to be treated in adults, except in situations where the patient has organic damage to the heart muscle.

Diagnostics

To exclude or confirm the presence of any pathologies, the cardiologist prescribes a series of examinations. An electrocardiogram is considered a reliable and generally accepted diagnostic method, which can detect all types of arrhythmias.

Additionally, to clarify the clinical picture, the following are prescribed:

• X-ray of the chest organs.
• Holter monitoring, when the heart function is monitored throughout the day.
• Stress tests or treadmill test.
• Medicinal electrocardiographic tests.
• Neurophysiological research.
• An echocardiographic examination examines the characteristics of blood movement in the atria and ventricles.
• Ultrasound. Diagnoses diseases of the heart muscle.

The course is prescribed individually, depending on the cause of the disease, its duration, and the general well-being of the teenager. For mild forms, sedatives are recommended: tinctures of valerian, hawthorn, motherwort. Take several times a day for a month.

If the cause of arrhythmia is cardiac pathology, the following are prescribed:

• vascular and neurometabolic drugs;
• antioxidants;
• cell membrane stabilizers;
• antiarrhythmic drugs: amiodarone, procainamide, verapamil.

If the disease is already severe and has a poor prognosis, installation of a pacemaker is recommended.

Read also: How to relieve cardiac arrhythmia

Arrhythmia in adolescents is dangerous because it can cause a number of complications if the first symptoms are ignored. Often parents attribute the manifestations of this disease to hormonal changes in the body and miss time for treatment. And with timely intervention, the disease can be corrected.

What complications can arrhythmia cause in adolescents?

• Slowing of blood flow, as a result of which brain cells are not fully supplied with oxygen. There is a risk of decreased intellectual development.
• Pathological expansion of the chambers of the heart causes irreversible changes in this organ and problems with blood supply.
• Chronic heart failure.
• Chaotic contraction of the atria, which persists after puberty.
• Imbalance in the functioning of other organs, which can provoke new diseases.

Traditional treatment

Severe sinus arrhythmia in a teenager is a disease that even doctors recommend treating with folk remedies. Herbal preparations for arrhythmia in combination with medications can help even after the first use.

One of the most famous remedies for treating arrhythmia is valerian root. Motherwort and hawthorn are good for calming the heart. You can prepare the medicinal mixture yourself. The most common collection recipes:

1. The first recipe. Ingredients: valerian root, calendula flowers, viburnum bark, motherwort. All herbs must be taken in equal proportions. You should steam 2 tbsp per day. l. collection and take throughout the day. The course of treatment is 7–10 days.
2. The second recipe. Mix ready-made tinctures of valerian, motherwort, and hawthorn in equal proportions, add a few drops of Corvalol. Take once a day before meals for a week.

What to do during an attack?

After an attack, it is recommended to lie down and rest for a while.

An attack of arrhythmia can occur in any situation. In teenagers, this usually occurs during times of excitement or physical activity. During an attack, it is important to react in time, and then the heart rhythm will recover faster.

The first thing you need to do is start breathing correctly. A few deep breaths and exhalations will quickly improve your well-being and normalize your heart rate. If an attack of arrhythmia occurs during a tense situation, you should do breathing exercises and restore mental balance.

Immediately after an attack, you can lie down and rest for a while. As a rule, special medications are not prescribed to relieve arrhythmia in adolescents, since they can cope with the attack on their own.

"Pitfalls" during a medical examination

Sometimes a young man’s complaints can be ignored by members of the commission at the military registration and enlistment office, so it is advisable to undergo an examination of the whole body in advance at the district clinic. Both permanent and temporary health problems can be an obstacle to military service. In order to understand the problem, they may be given a deferment from service with a second medical examination.

You can make the right choice only by taking into account all the information

This is why it is so important to seek medical help throughout your life, especially if you have heart problems. Then, at the medical examination at the Military Commissariat, you will know for sure whether it is possible to serve in the army with tachycardia (see categories of fitness for military service)

Negligence and inattention of medical staff can cause serious violations in the future. After all, we know of cases when soldiers lost consciousness on an obstacle course and were sent straight from the exercise to the hospital. Why put your body at risk if you have heart disease?

category of suitability for military service). Negligence and inattention of medical staff can cause serious violations in the future. After all, we know of cases when soldiers lost consciousness on an obstacle course and were sent straight from the exercise to the hospital. Why put your body at risk if you have heart disease?

Then, at the medical examination at the Military Commissariat, you will know for sure whether it is possible to serve in the army with tachycardia (see categories of fitness for military service). Negligence and inattention of medical staff can cause serious violations in the future. After all, we know of cases when soldiers lost consciousness on an obstacle course and were sent straight from the exercise to the hospital. Why put your body in danger if you have heart disease.

How dangerous is severe sinus arrhythmia in children?

Severe sinus arrhythmia is a pathological condition characterized by disruption of the source of impulses in the sinus node. During normal operation, it is in the sinus node that electrical impulses are formed that set the heart rate, varying from 60 to 80 beats per minute. If this indicator changes upward, tachycardia is diagnosed, and if the rate slows down, bradycardia can be diagnosed, and in addition, a third option is possible, accompanied by an irregular heartbeat.

The main reasons for the development of severe sinus arrhythmia

The reason for the development of pronounced arrhythmia largely lies in the fact that the sinus node, which is the source of impulses in the heart, on the one hand, is autonomous, and on the other hand, subject to the influence of many external factors that can have both a depressing and stimulating effect. Often the pathology is associated with breathing, since when you inhale, the number of beats can rapidly increase, and when you exhale, correspondingly decrease.

Sinus arrhythmia occurs most often in children and adolescents. In many ways, the development of rhythm disturbances in childhood is associated with the individual characteristics of the functioning of the body, and in addition, the lability of the autonomic nervous system. For the most part, the development of rhythm disturbances in children does not have clear symptoms, since this condition is physiological and not pathological. If sinus arrhythmia is a physiological condition, it is not treated, since it will disappear on its own with age. However, it should be noted that this condition can be the result of a variety of pathological factors. These factors include:

1. Heredity. Parents who at a certain stage of life suffered from this heart rhythm disorder often have children with such a deviation.
2. Congenital or acquired heart defects
3. Poisoning with medicinal or toxic substances.
4. Infectious diseases. If pathogenic microflora enters the heart, endocarditis or myocarditis may develop.

In addition, severe sinus arrhythmia is rarely observed in people of all ages with diseases such as:

• typhoid fever;
• hypothermia;
• liver failure;
• arterial hypertension;
• hypothyroidism

Among other things, hormonal surges, which are not uncommon in adolescence, can lead to severe sinus arrhythmia.

Symptomatic manifestations of severe sinus arrhythmia

Considering that most often such rhythm disturbance occurs in young children, it is extremely difficult to interview the patient to identify the problem. There are quite a few markers that can be eliminated even without the use of specific diagnostic tools. Characteristic markers indicating the presence of a rhythm disorder include:

• poor sleep;
• restless behavior;
• pale or blue discoloration of the extremities;
• dyspnea;
• rapid fatigue, expressed in reluctance to play.

Older children also note discomfort in the chest area, pain, as well as a feeling of squeezing and cardiac arrest. In addition, there are often cases when heart rhythm disturbances are accompanied by dizziness, fainting and even headaches.

Treatment of severe sinus arrhythmia

If the symptoms of arrhythmia are mild or this condition does not manifest itself at all, targeted treatment of the arrhythmia is not carried out.

If arrhythmia is not a physiological, but a pathological condition, targeted treatment of the root cause of the pathology is prescribed.

The most common medications used to treat sinus arrhythmia are injections of atropine, procainamide, and quinide. These drugs help normalize the rhythm and also help eliminate extrasystole.

When treating young children, most cardiologists try to minimize drug exposure, since drugs intended for arrhythmia in adults can have a negative impact on the child’s overall health. The main emphasis in treating children for sinus arrhythmia is non-drug methods of influence. First of all, you should reduce your physical activity as much as possible. In addition, you need to organize the correct diet. Fried foods, processed foods and other heavy foods should be completely excluded from the diet.

How is sinus arrhythmia diagnosed and treated?

Failures in heart contractions do not always indicate that this type of pathology has developed. Therefore, to confirm, doctors recommend an electrocardiogram. Only this type of research will help you see all the changes in heart rate.

Treatment of arrhythmia at a young age

Sinus arrhythmia in adolescents is always a temporary phenomenon. Therefore, treatment consists of finding the cause of long-term stress, and only after that it is necessary to adjust the young person’s lifestyle. In some cases, only a psychiatrist can help the child. But, you must immediately give up coffee, as it excites the nervous system. In some cases, the cardiologist prescribes sedatives.

Some complications that can develop in a schoolchild

Sinus arrhythmia in adolescents can be the main cause of persistent fainting or dizziness, as well as loss of consciousness. Young people who suffer from this disease subsequently suffer from various diseases of the cardiovascular system, and brain function is also impaired.

Therefore, it is especially important for a child to undergo a medical examination once a year in order to identify this type of pathology in the early stages. https://www.youtube.com/embed/_24ZXO5PMjg

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_24ZXO5PMjg

Diagnostics

If there is a suspicion of such a serious illness as sinus arrhythmia in a teenage child, it is necessary to carry out timely diagnosis, which includes not only the standard procedure of examination and collection of necessary tests, but also a study of the medical history, as well as a number of the following manipulations:

• electrocardiography performed in the usual way;
• electrocardiography, which should be carried out within 24 hours to collect accurate data;
• echocardiography;
• X-ray, as well as ultrasound examination;
• phonocardiography.