What is Sinus Arrhythmia?
What is sinus arrhythmia? Heartbeats are like clockwork. In the same way the second hand on a clock ticks regularly each second, the heart has an electrical impulse that is generated and leads to a heartbeat in a regular manner. The timing between each of these generated impulses is known as the P-P interval.
Most individuals have a minor variation in the P-P interval. Usually however this is small, <0.16 seconds. In individuals with sinus arrhythmia however, the P-P interval may vary by > 0.16 seconds.
Is Sinus Arrhythmia Normal?
There are typically 2 types of sinus arrhythmia. By far the most common is basically benign and known as respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Here the variation in the heart rate is related to the breathing cycle. The rate increases when the person breathes in and decreases when the person breathes out. Its what we call a physiological response and isn’t considered a significant abnormality. Its much more common in children and tends to decrease with age. The cause isn’t exactly known, but is thought related to reflexes related to the pulmonary and the vascular systems. As you can imagine, the sinus arrhythmia may be more pronounced in very heavy breathers, such as people with sleep apnea.
The other form of sinus arrhythmia is less common and known as non-respiratory sinus arrhythmia. It is more common in the elderly where it may occur in association with heart disease. Once again the exact cause is unknown.
Sinus arrhythmia is most commonly seen when the heart rate is slow. And when the heart rate speeds up, during exercise for example, the rhythm tends to become regular. In general, the presence of sinus arrhythmia is not indicative of the need for further testing and people can be reassured as to its generally benign nature.
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This was the result of electrocaridographic report of a 12 y/o student of mine. I want to know it her case is serious? I hope for your reply.
Rate:
Rhythm: Sinus Autricular: 70-90/min PR Interval: 0.14 sec.
QRS Axis: Normal Ventricular: 70-90/min QRS Interval: 0.06 sec.
QT: 0.36 sec
INTERPRETATION: Sinus Arrhythmia
Looks pretty normal to me.
I am looking forward for your respond regarding my question, thanks
My 4 year old got this diagnosis today. Basically he said it can happen in athletic toddlers. Any thoughts on that?
She is a dancer and just went through dance camp for 3 months and danced 5-6 hrs a day out of a 9 hr day. Then she continues dancing t home.
Its essentially a normal variant, and i agree its not likely a cause for concern.
So my GP said I have Sinus Arrhythmia and another medical professional said I had an ectopic heartbeat. Doing the inevitable google – they are different things and Sinus Arrhythmia says there are no cardiovascular symptoms yet I get bouts of dizziness and pre-syncope episodes, chest pain and prolonged shortness of breath – to be these are all CV symptoms.
Any idea?
p.s. I’m a 29 year old guy who does a lot of sport and exercise both cardio and weights etc.
Hi sir ! This my ECG report . HR 74bpm P: 110ms PR: 149ms QRS : 89ms QT/QTC : 401/446 Ms P/QRS/T : 48/10/36 RV5/SV1 : 0.695:0.576 mV Diagnosis Information. sinus arrhythmia. Poor R wave progression. Flattened T wave (VL,V6). Inverted T wave(V4) pls advise Iam 38yrs old . I have sinusitis @ gastric problem
I am 30, was diagnosed years ago and I have more experiential knowledge about my sinus arrhythmia than my docs can tell me. It’s caused by either stress, spiced foods (actually lots of different types of hard to digest foods can upset it) but by far the thing that upsets it the most is lack of cardio exercise. If I go a week without it, I get palpitations randomly, especially while sitting for too long. As long as I do regular, consistent, non-interval cardio training.. I’m fine!
This was the result of my Electrocardiogram. I’m 18 years old.
RHYTHM: Sinus Arrhythmia
PR INTERVAL: 0.14
POSITION: 75
QRS DURATION: 0.08
VENTRICULAR RATE: 60-71
QT: 0.40
QTC: 0.426
I am a 50 year old started having fast heart rate in 90-100 and frequent PVCs been having them constantly for 2 weeks now ….no heart disease otherwise ….. Should I be concerned?
You should have an EKG, some blood tests and an echocardiogram to start with.
I’m 76 years of age.
I take daily 2.5 mg Amlodipine for BP, 20mg Telmisartan, 75 mg Clopivas, 5mg Atorvastatin
My ECG on 17 July mentioned i have Bradycardia.
Today’s ECG mentions sinus arrhythmia.
Should I be concerned about the results of the ECG?
Should my medication be changed or dosage modified?
Any further tests to be done?
Would appreciate your advice by e-mail.
Thanks
Sinus arrhythmia itself is not a cause typically for concern. I cant really comment on the rest without knowing much more about your case. An echocardiogram would be reasonable.
Dear Doc Can i know about my heart condition. i am daignoserd with sinus arrhythmia with unspecified st-t abnormality. i am taking andral 40 day and night and escilotopram. but i feel my cardiologist has not considered or treated me well.As while talking my heart goes down,i feel constant pain in my left shoulder just near armpit.i wonder whats wrong.what should i do now ?
Hi sir ! This my ECG report . HR 74bpm P: 110ms PR: 149ms QRS : 89ms QT/QTC : 401/446 Ms P/QRS/T : 48/10/36 RV5/SV1 : 0.695:0.576 mV Diagnosis Information. sinus arrhythmia. Poor R wave progression. Flattened T wave (VL,V6). Inverted T wave(V4) pls advise Iam 38yrs old . I have sinusitis @ gastric problem
My ECG says that I have Sinus arrhythmia. I’m constantly tired and sleepy. With a few bouts if syncope. I’m an active 29 year old. Lady and my doctor says there’s nothing to worry about. But even after resting as long as I do something physical for a few minutes I often feel tired and sleepy. I’ve been taking naps 2-4x a day even with enough sleep. Someone please help me.
Hello I am a healthy 46 year old female. I was experiencing lightheadedness upon position changes. I had an EKG at my routine check up. He results were Sinus rhythm with short PR interval.
Vent rate 69 BPM
PR int. 117 ms
QRS duration 93 ms
QT/QTc 357/376 ms
P-R-T 9. 69. 74
Could you please email your opinion? Thank you very much for your time!
Looks like fairly normal values. Would need to see the tracing for further comment.
hi..
I am 41 years old, with a lot of medical problems GERD, Helia Hernia, Ulcer, Asthma, etcs
I just had a sleep studies and they did a EKG no significant myocardial rate or rhythm changes associated with any sleep related physiological events but during sleep I had a relatively fast heart rate with an average of 77, a minimum of 63 and a maximum of 101 Bpm. During all recording both awake and asleep my highest heart rate was 101 bpm, and my lowest rate was 62 bpm but in the meantime my asleep SaO2 87.6% and awake SaO2 95.8% ..
Please can you tell me if I need to see my Doctor or if I need to be concerned about this .. thank you
I would recommend you see a Dr for a follow up if i were you, simply to discuss the results of the sleep study.
my brother has his ecg report ‘short sinus otherwise normal’…is it normal Dr. ahmed…?.
Sounds normal. Im not familiar with the term short sinus it doesn’t exist.