Causes of tachycardia, bradycardia and hypotension
| Tachy | Brady | Hypo | H-CA | H-brady | H-tachy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tachy, all cases of tachycardia/tachydysrhythmia;7 Brady, all cases of bradycardia;6 Hypo, all cases of hypotension; H-CA, cardiac arrest in association with hypotension; H-brady, bradycardia in association with hypotension; H-tachy, tachycardia in association with hypotension. | ||||||
| *Percentage of set or subset. | ||||||
| †Data mislaid, causes approximately 20% greater than reports. | ||||||
| ‡Variation from 100% reflects rounding of percentages. | ||||||
| Examples of causes expressed as number of cases: | ||||||
| ¶Cardiopulmonary causes: H-CA: myocardial infarct (n = 3), gas embolism (n = 1), bronchopleural fistula (n = 1), pacemaker malfunction (n = 1), pressure on pericardium (n = 2); Hypo: myocardial infarct (n = 3), myocardial ischaemia (n = 1), left ventricular failure (n = 2), dysrhythmia (n = 1), tension pneumothorax (n = 4), haemothorax (n = 2), gas embolism (n = 5), fat embolism (n = 1); H-tachy: left ventricular failure (n = 1), tension pneumothorax (n = 2), haemothorax (n = 1), gas embolism (n = 1). | ||||||
| §Surgical causes: H-CA: central venous cannula wire (n = 2), hip cement or reaming (n = 3), pneumoperitoneum (n = 4), tourniquet (n = 1), suction (n = 1); Hypo: central venous cannula wire (n = 3), hip cement or reaming (n = 2), pneumoperitoneum (n = 2), clamp removal (n = 1), inferior vena caval compression (n = 1), retractors (n = 1), removal of atrial shunt (n = 1); H-tachy: central venous cannula wire (n = 2), hip cement or reaming (n = 1). | ||||||
| **Central nervous system causes: CA: raised intracranial hypertension (n = 1); | ||||||
| ††Metabolic causes: CA: acidosis (n = 2), anaemia (n = 1). | ||||||
| No of reports | 145 | 265 | 438 | 108 | 134 | 38 |
| No of different causes | 148 | 319 | 550 | † | † | 48 |
| Causes* | ||||||
| Allergy | 11 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 21 |
| Airway | 4 | 16 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 4 |
| Hypovolaemia | 3 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 4 |
| Regional anaesthesia | 1 | 9 | 17 | 14 | 16 | 4 |
| Drugs | 33 | 28 | 26 | 26 | 30 | 19 |
| Cardiopulmonary¶ | 8 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 11 |
| Reflexes | 9 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 4 |
| Posture | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Sepsis | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Surgery§ | 6 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Pre-existing condition | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| CNS** | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Metabolic†† | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Monitoring | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Light anaesthesia | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hypercapnia | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Not determined | 8 | 8 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 17 |
| Total (%)‡ | 99 | 100 | 99 | 101 | 99 | 100 |