When Are Heart Rhythm Disorders Important?
How to distinguish common palpitations from rhythm symptoms that require urgent or specialist assessment.
Physician-reviewed patient informationOverview
Palpitations do not always mean a dangerous arrhythmia. Stress, caffeine, poor sleep, anaemia, thyroid disease and some medicines may make the heartbeat feel more noticeable.
Clinical importance depends on the rhythm itself, episode duration, associated symptoms, structural heart disease and the ECG recorded during symptoms. A Holter, patch or event monitor may be selected according to how often episodes occur.
Palpitations with fainting, chest pain, major breathlessness, cold sweating or neurological symptoms require urgent assessment. Treatment may range from trigger management and observation to medicines, catheter ablation or a cardiac device.