Tachycardia

How it is used

Used in notes and handover; the adjective is 'tachycardic' ('He's tachycardic at 120'), often shortened to 'tachy' in speech. The opposite is 'bradycardia', a slow heart rate, usually under 60. Tachycardia can be caused by pain, fever, dehydration, bleeding, anxiety or heart problems.

Example sentences

1. She's been tachycardic since this morning, with a pulse of around 115.

2. The ECG showed sinus tachycardia.

Common collocations

• sinus tachycardia
• become tachycardic
• persistent tachycardia
• mild tachycardia

Related terms

• pulseThe beat of the heart that can be felt where an artery is close to the skin, such as at the wrist, counted as beats per minute.
• vital signsThe basic body measurements that show how well a patient's body is working: usually temperature, pulse, breathing rate, blood pressure and oxygen level.
• sepsisA life-threatening condition in which the body's response to an infection starts to damage its own organs and tissues.
• dehydratedHaving lost more water than the body has taken in, so that it does not have enough fluid to work normally.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• tachycardia · Medicine

More terms: Vital Signs

• blood pressure
• respiratory rate
• oxygen saturation
• observations
• blood glucose
• temperature
• hypotension
• afebrile