Bradycardia vs Tachycardia

[hanakimi4]

Which is more life-threatening bradycardia or tachycardia?

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Well a patient with a HR of 40 with a large brain tumor with a midline shift and acute hydrocephalus awaiting surgery's life is more at risk than a patient with anxiety and a HR of 150.

On the other hand, a patient with a HR of 150 because their BP is 70/40 and they're going septic is going to die a hell of a lot faster than someone whose HR is 40 because they run marathons weekly.

Bradycardia and tachycardia in and of themselves just refer to heart rate. Neither one is necessarily life threatening. You can have bradycardia because you're an athlete or because you have Cushing's triad and you can have tachycardia because you just walked out of an exercise class, are anxious or are septic and trying to compensate for severe hypotension.