The key difference between heart palpitations and arrhythmia is that heart palpitations are short-lived feelings of the heart racing, fluttering, thumping, or pounding in the chest, while arrhythmia is an abnormal heart rhythm where the heart beats irregularly.
Heart muscle functions by pumping blood, oxygen, and important nutrients to all parts of the human body. Sometimes, heartbeats can stray from their regular rates and rhythms. These reasons include nervousness, excitement, having too much coffee, and underlying conditions. Heart palpitations and arrhythmia are two medical conditions that are due to abnormal heartbeat changes.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What are Heart Palpitations
3. What is Arrhythmia
4. Similarities – Heart Palpitations and Arrhythmia
5. Heart Palpitations vs Arrhythmia in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Heart Palpitations vs Arrhythmia
What are Heart Palpitations?
Heart palpitations are feelings that one’s heart is beating rapidly, fluttering, pounding, or skipping beats. Heart palpitations normally do not last for long. They last a few seconds or minutes. Heart palpitations can be caused by anxiety, stress, having too much alcohol, caffeine, or nicotine, exercise, an overactive thyroid gland, low levels of sugar, potassium, or oxygen, low carbon dioxide in the blood, fever, anemia, dehydration, blood loss, some cough or cold medicines (decongestants), some herbal and nutritional supplements, and recreational drugs like cocaine and amphetamines. In serious situations, they are a symptom of an underlying medical condition (blocked arteries in the heart, heart failure, heart muscle or valve problems, and previous heart attack). Racing pounding heartbeats, missing a beat, having an extra beat, flip-flopping, fluttering, chest pain, dizziness, fainting, and shortness of breath are the signs and symptoms of heart palpitations.
Heart palpitations can be diagnosed through medical history, physical examination, blood tests, urine tests, electrocardiogram (ECG), stress test, echocardiogram, a Holter monitor worn for a day or longer, electrophysiology study, and cardiac catheterization. Furthermore, treatment options for heart palpitations may include avoiding triggers, medication (metoprolol, propranolol, atenolol, and calcium channel blockers), surgery, or a device to correct the problem.
What is Arrhythmia?
Arrhythmia is a medical condition where the heart rhythm is not normal. In this condition, the heart may beat too fast when people are at rest, or the heart may not beat in a regular pattern. Arrhythmia can occur due to coronary artery disease, irritable tissue in the heart, high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy, valve disorders, electrolyte imbalances, injury from a heart attack, the healing process after surgery in the heart, and other medical conditions. Moreover, symptoms of this condition may include heart palpitations, dizziness or light-headedness, fainting, shortness of breath, chest discomfort, general weakness, or fatigue.
Arrhythmia is diagnosed through an electrocardiogram (ECG), blood test, ambulatory monitors, stress test, echocardiogram, cardiac catheterization, electrophysiology study (EPS), tilt table test, CT scan, or MRI. Furthermore, treatment options for arrhythmia include medications (antiarrhythmic drugs and anticoagulants), lifestyle changes, therapies, devices (permanent pacemaker and implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), and surgery (coronary artery bypass).
What are the Similarities Between Heart Palpitations and Arrhythmia?
- Heart palpitations and arrhythmia are two medical conditions that are due to abnormal heartbeat changes.
- Heart palpitations can be a symptom of arrhythmia.
- Both conditions may have similar symptoms, such as chest pain, shortness of breath, etc.
- Both conditions can be diagnosed through physical examination, blood test, and electrocardiogram (ECG).
- They are treated through medications, therapies, and surgeries.
What is the Difference Between Heart Palpitations and Arrhythmia?
Heart palpitations are short-lived feelings of the heart racing, fluttering, thumping, or pounding in the chest, while arrhythmia is an abnormal heart rhythm where the heart beats irregularly. Thus, this is the key difference between heart palpitations and arrhythmia. Furthermore, the signs and symptoms of heart palpitations include racing, pounding heartbeats, missing a beat, having an extra beat, flip-flopping, fluttering, chest pain, dizziness, fainting, and shortness of breath. On the other hand, the signs and symptoms of arrhythmia include heart palpitations, dizziness or light-headedness, fainting, shortness of breath, chest discomfort, and general weakness or fatigue.
The below infographic presents the differences between heart palpitations and arrhythmia in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Heart Palpitations vs Arrhythmia
Heart palpitations and arrhythmia are due to changes in the heartbeat. Both these conditions can occur due to serious underlying conditions. However, heart palpitations are short-lived feelings of the heart racing, fluttering, thumping or pounding in the chest, while arrhythmia is an abnormal heart rhythm where the heart beats irregularly. So, this summarizes the difference between heart palpitations and arrhythmia.
Reference:
1. “What You Need to Know about Arrhythmias.” Cleveland Clinic.
2. “Heart Palpitations: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment.” Cleveland Clinic.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Heart Pain” (CC0) via Pxhere
2. “2024 Cardiac Arrhythmias” By OpenStax College – Anatomy & Physiology, Connexions Web site, Jun 19, 2013. (CC BY 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia