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Tachycardia

Tachycardia is the too-rapid beating of the heart. If the heart beats too rapidly it performs inefficiently and blood flow and blood pressure paradoxically are reduced.

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a form of tachycardia that occurs with a change in body position (eg, going from laying down to standing up) and which is generally due to dysautonomia.

Tachycardia is a general term that is applied in a lot of different contexts. Most generally it means pathologically increased heart rate.

Tachycardia, as applied in adult medicine, is defined as a resting heart rate of over 100 beats per minute (BPM).

See also : Cardiac arrhythmia