Causes of a fast heart rate in children

Children's heart rates are faster than adults. This is because their hearts are smaller and need to beat more often to pump blood throughout the body. Unlike adults, children's hearts are more fragile and their hearts have a weak ability to withstand external stimulation. Some children are born with bad hearts, while others have healthy hearts. So what causes children's fast heart rate?

Causes of a fast heart rate in children

(1) Physiological: Physiological tachycardia usually occurs in infancy and childhood, and some patients with ventricular tachycardia do not have organic heart disease or other systemic diseases. It usually occurs during exercise.

(2) Heart disease: Heart disease is the main cause of a rapid heart rate in children. Common causes include viral myocarditis, congenital heart disease, and heart surgery and postoperative heart disease. Cardiomyopathy and cardiac tumors are also common causes.

(3) Systemic diseases: Some systemic diseases can also cause children's heart rate to be too fast, such as severe hypoxia, asphyxia, SLE and severe infection, which may cause ventricular tachycardia after myocardial damage.

(4) Electrolyte imbalance and acid-base imbalance: Hypokalemia, hypocalcemia, and hypomagnesemia caused by various reasons are common causes of rapid heart rate.

(5) Effects of drugs and poisons: Some drugs and toxic substances can also cause children's heart rate to be too fast, such as digitalis, various antiarrhythmic drugs, etc. There are also some drug poisoning or allergies, which can cause children's heart rate to be too fast.

For infants under one year old, the normal heart rate is between 110-120 beats per minute. For children aged 2 to 10 years old, the normal heart rate is between 80 and 120 beats per minute. A heart rate exceeding this range is called tachycardia in children. Including sinus tachycardia, as well as some supraventricular tachycardia and ventricular tachycardia.

Children's sinus tachycardia is mostly caused by excessive excitement of the sympathetic nerves, such as crying, poor sleep, and activity, and does not require treatment at this time. Diseases such as fever, hyperthyroidism, and anemia can also cause tachycardia, which is pathological sinus tachycardia and requires treatment. There is also supraventricular tachycardia, which requires symptomatic treatment.

For a normal child under 2 years old, the heart rate should not exceed 130 beats. If it remains above 150 beats for a long time, it means that the heart rate is still relatively fast, and appropriate examinations are needed to diagnose this situation. First of all, the problem of myocarditis should be considered. You can review whether there is a history of upper respiratory tract infection or intestinal inflammation in the past 3 weeks or so, and then check the myocardial enzyme spectrum.