Bradycardia in children

Bradycardia occurs in children of any age. In this violation there is a decrease in heart rate. In newborns, the frequency of contractions drops below 100 beats per minute, in preschool children less than 70 beats, in adolescents less than 60. Under the term bradycardia in children, most often refer to sinus bradycardia.

Causes of bradycardia in children

• congenital heart disease;
• diseases of the endocrine (metabolic disorders) or nervous (neurosis) systems, increased intracranial pressure and some infectious diseases;
• a high dosage of drugs, as well as a failure in taking strong medications;
• lead or nicotine poisoning;
• in infants - a violation of cerebral circulation, a lack of the hormone of the thyroid gland, oxygen starvation;
• in adolescents - rapid growth of internal organs and metabolic disorders.

Symptoms of bradycardia in children

Attentive parents can themselves determine the violation of the child's health by the following signs: weakness and lethargy, poor appetite, fatigue, frequent dizziness with loss of consciousness, dyspnea, excessive sweating, jumps in arterial pressure, pain in the chest. As a rule, a child with bradycardia manifests several symptoms at once. But the most characteristic symptom of bradycardia in children is the low heart rate, especially after physical exertion.

Bradycardia is dangerous because the heart can not fully supply the organs with blood, and, consequently, with oxygen. The consequences of bradycardia can be very serious.

Treatment of bradycardia in children

In order to cure the child of bradycardia, you must first identify the disease, which triggered a sinus rhythm disturbance. The doctor, having identified the disease of the organ or organ system, will prescribe an effective treatment, and, therefore, bradycardia, as a sign of this disease will go away by itself. In this case, usually prescribed drugs that adjust carbohydrate metabolism, eliminate oxygen starvation and maintain an electrolyte balance.

All medications are prescribed individually by a doctor. With a sharp bradycardia of the heart in children, which violates blood circulation, prescribe antiarrhythmic drugs (ginseng root, eleutherococcus extract, caffeine, atropine, belladonna, etc.).

In many children, bradycardia is temporary and easily amenable to correction. Sometimes a child can simply "outgrow" this violation.