Atrial fibrillation increases the risk of heart failure by 11 per 1000, kidney problems by 6 per 1000, death by 4 per 1000, stroke by 3 per 1000, and coronary heart disease by 1 per 1000. Women have a worse outcome overall than men. Evidence increasingly suggests that atrial fibrillation is independently associated with a higher risk of developing dementia.

As an overall medical condition PVCs are normally not very harmful to patients that experience them, but frequent PVCs may put patients at increased risk of developing arrhythmias or cardiomyopathy, which can greatly impact the functioning of the heart over the span of that patient's life. On a more serious and severe scale, frequent PVCs can accompany underlying heart disease and lead to chaotic, dangerous heart rhythms and possibly sudden cardiac death.

Asymptomatic patients that do not have heart disease have long-term prognoses very similar to the general population, but asymptomatic patients that have ejection fractions greater than 40% have a 3.5% incidence of sustained ventricular tachycardia or cardiac arrest. One drawback comes from emerging data that suggests very frequent ventricular ectopy may be associated with cardiomyopathy through a mechanism thought to be similar to that of chronic right ventricular pacing associated cardiomyopathy. Patients that have underlying chronic structural heart disease and complex ectopy, mortality is significantly increased.

In meta-analysis of 11 studies, people with frequent PVC (≥1 time during a standard electrocardiographic recording or ≥30 times over a 1-hour recording) had risk of cardiac death 2 times higher than persons without frequent PVC. Although most studies made attempts to exclude high-risk subjects, such as those with histories of cardiovascular disease, they did not test participants for underlying structural heart disease.

In a study of 239 people with frequent PVCs (>1000 beats/day) and without structural heart disease (i.e. in the presence of normal heart function) there were no serious cardiac events through 5.6 years on average, but there was correlation between PVC prevalence and decrease of ejection fraction and increase of left ventricular diastolic dimension. In this study absence of heart of disease was excluded by echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in 63 persons and Holter monitoring.

Another study has suggested that in the absence of structural heart disease even frequent (> 60/h or 1/min) and complex PVCs are associated with a benign prognosis. It was study of 70 people followed by 6.5 years on average. Healthy status was confirmed by extensive noninvasive cardiologic examination, although cardiac catheterization of a subgroup disclosed serious coronary artery disease in 19%. Overall survival was better than expected.

On the other hand, the Framingham Heart Study reported that PVCs in apparently healthy people were associated with a twofold increase in the risk of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction and cardiac death. In men with coronary heart disease and in women with or without coronary heart disease, complex or frequent arrhythmias were not associated with an increased risk. The at-risk people might have subclinical coronary disease. These Framingham results have been criticised for the lack of rigorous measures to exclude the potential confounder of underlying heart disease.

In the ARIC study of 14,783 people followed for 15 to 17 years those with detected PVC during 2 minute ECG, and without hypertension or diabetes on the beginning, had risk of stroke increased by 109%. Hypertension or diabetes, both risk factors for stroke, did not change significantly risk of stroke for people with PVC. It is possible that PVCs identified those at risk of stroke with blood pressure and impaired glucose tolerance on a continuum of risk below conventional diagnostic thresholds for hypertension and diabetes. Those in ARIC study with any PVC had risk of heart failure increased by 63% and were >2 times as likely to die due to coronary heart disease (CHD). Risk was also higher for people with or without baseline CHD.

In the Niigata study of 63,386 people with 10-year follow-up period those with PVC during a 10-second recording had risk of atrial fibrillation increased nearly 3 times independently from risk factors: age, male sex, body mass index, hypertension, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and diabetes.

Reducing frequent PVC (>20%) by antiarrhythmic drugs or by catheter ablation significantly improves heart performance.

Recent studies have shown that those subjects who have an extremely high occurrence of PVCs (several thousand a day) can develop dilated cardiomyopathy. In these cases, if the PVCs are reduced or removed (for example, via ablation therapy) the cardiomyopathy usually regresses.

Also, PVCs can permanently cease without any treatment, in a material percentage of cases.

A family history of AF may increase the risk of AF. A study of more than 2,200 people found an increased risk factor for AF of 1.85 for those that had at least one parent with AF. Various genetic mutations may be responsible.

Four types of genetic disorder are associated with atrial fibrillation:

- Familial AF as a monogenic disease

- Familial AF presenting in the setting of another inherited cardiac disease (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, familial amyloidosis)

- Inherited arrhythmic syndromes (congenital long QT syndrome, short QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome)

- Non-familial AF associated with genetic backgrounds (polymorphism in the ACE gene) that may predispose to atrial fibrillation

The following stimulants, conditions and triggers may increase your risk of the more frequent occurrence of premature ventricular contractions:

- Caffeine, tobacco and alcohol

- Exercise

- High blood pressure (hypertension)

- Anxiety

- Underlying heart disease, including congenital heart disease, coronary artery disease, heart attack, heart failure and a weakened heart muscle (cardiomyopathy)

- African American ethnicity- increased the risk of PVCs by 30% in comparison with the risk in white individuals

- Male sex

- Lower serum magnesium or potassium levels

- Faster sinus rates

- A bundle-branch block on 12-lead ECG

- Hypomagnesemia

- Hypokalemia

The cause of cardiomegaly is not well understood and many cases of cardiomegaly are idiopathic (having no known cause). Prevention of cardiomegaly starts with detection. If a person has a family history of cardiomegaly, one should let one's doctor know so that treatments can be implemented to help prevent worsening of the condition. In addition, prevention includes avoiding certain lifestyle risk factors such as tobacco use and controlling one's high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Non-lifestyle risk factors include family history of cardiomegaly, coronary artery disease (CAD), congenital heart failure, Atherosclerotic disease, valvular heart disease, exposure to cardiac toxins, sleep disordered breathing (such as sleep apnea), sustained cardiac arrhythmias, abnormal electrocardiograms, and cardiomegaly on chest X-ray. Lifestyle factors which can help prevent cardiomegaly include eating a healthy diet, controlling blood pressure, exercise, medications, and not abusing alcohol and cocaine. Current research and the evidence of previous cases link the following (below) as possible causes of cardiomegaly.

The most common causes of Cardiomegaly are congenital (patients are born with the condition based on a genetic inheritance), high blood pressure which can enlarge the left ventricle causing the heart muscle to weaken over time, and coronary artery disease that creates blockages in the heart's blood supply, which can bring on a cardiac infarction (heart attack) leading to tissue death which causes other areas of the heart to work harder, increasing the heart size.

Other possible causes include:

- Heart Valve Disease

- Cardiomyopathy (disease to the heart muscle)

- Pulmonary Hypertension

- Pericardial Effusion (fluid around the heart)

- Thyroid Disorders

- Hemochromatosis (excessive iron in the blood)

- Other rare diseases like Amyloidosis

- Viral infection of the heart

- Pregnancy, with enlarged heart developing around the time of delivery (peripartum cardiomyopathy)

- Kidney disease requiring dialysis

- Alcohol or cocaine abuse

- HIV infection

- Diabetes

Knowledge that TdP may occur in patients taking certain prescription drugs has been both a major liability and reason for retirement of these medications from the marketplace. Examples of compounds linked to clinical observations of TdP include amiodarone, fluoroquinolones, methadone, lithium, chloroquine, erythromycin, amphetamine, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, methylphenidate, and phenothiazines. It has also been shown as a side effect of certain anti-arrhythmic medications, such as sotalol, procainamide, and quinidine. The gastrokinetic drug cisapride (Propulsid) was withdrawn from the US market in 2000 after it was linked to deaths caused by long QT syndrome-induced torsades de pointes. In many cases, this effect can be directly linked to QT prolongation mediated predominantly by inhibition of the hERG channel.

In September 2011 (subsequently updated in March 2012 and February 2013), the FDA issued a warning concerning increased incidence of QT prolongation in patients prescribed doses of the antidepressant Celexa (citalopram) above 40 mg per day, considered the maximum allowable dosage, thereby increasing the risk of Torsades. However, a study, "Evaluation of the FDA Warning Against Prescribing Citalopram at Doses Exceeding 40 mg," reported no increased risk of abnormal arrhythmias, thus questioning the validity of the FDA's warning.

If untreated, this abnormal heart rhythm can lead to dizziness, chest pain, a sensation of fluttering or pounding in the chest (palpitations), shortness of breath, or fainting (syncope). Atrial fibrillation also increases the risk of stroke. Complications of familial atrial fibrillation can occur at any age, although some people with this heart condition never experience any health problems associated with the disorder.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of sustained abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia), affecting more than 3 million people in the United States. The risk of developing this irregular heart rhythm increases with age. The incidence of the familial form of atrial fibrillation is unknown; however, recent studies suggest that up to 30 percent of all people with atrial fibrillation may have a history of the condition in their family.

Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in the industrialised world. It exacts a significant mortality with approximately 70,000 to 90,000 sudden cardiac deaths each year in the United Kingdom, and survival rates are only 2%. The majority of these deaths are due to ventricular fibrillation secondary to myocardial infarction, or "heart attack". During ventricular fibrillation, cardiac output drops to zero, and, unless remedied promptly, death usually ensues within minutes.

The true incidence of TIC is unclear. Some studies have noted the incidence of TIC in adults with irregular heart rhythms to range from 8% to 34%. Other studies of patients with atrial fibrillation and left ventricular dysfunction estimate that 25-50% of these study participants have some degree of TIC. TIC has been reported in all age groups.

The following is a list of factors associated with an increased tendency towards developing torsades de pointes:

- Hypokalemia (low blood potassium)

- Hypomagnesemia (low blood magnesium)

- Hypocalcemia (low blood calcium)

- Bradycardia (slow heartbeat)

- Heart failure

- Left ventricular hypertrophy

- Hypothermia

- Subarachnoid hemorrhage

- Hypothyroidism

Athlete's heart is not dangerous for athletes (though if a nonathlete has symptoms of bradycardia, cardiomegaly, and cardiac hypertrophy, another illness may be present). Athlete's heart is not the cause of sudden cardiac death during or shortly after a workout, which mainly occurs due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic disorder.

No treatment is required for people with athletic heart syndrome; it does not pose any physical threats to the athlete, and despite some theoretical concerns that the ventricular remodeling might conceivably predispose for serious arrhythmias, no evidence has been found of any increased risk of long-term events. Athletes should see a physician and receive a clearance to be sure their symptoms are due to athlete’s heart and not another heart disease, such as cardiomyopathy. If the athlete is uncomfortable with having athlete's heart or if a differential diagnosis is difficult, deconditioning from exercise for a period of three months allows the heart to return to its regular size. However, one long-term study of elite-trained athletes found that dilation of the left ventricle was only partially reversible after a long period of deconditioning. This deconditioning is often met with resistance to the accompanying lifestyle changes. The real risk attached to athlete's heart is if athletes or nonathletes simply assume they have the condition, instead of making sure they do not have a life-threatening heart illness.

Although often regarded as a relatively benign heart rhythm problem, atrial flutter shares the same complications as the related condition atrial fibrillation. There is paucity of published data directly comparing the two, but overall mortality in these conditions appears to be very similar.

Marine-derived omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) has been promoted for the prevention of sudden cardiac death due to its postulated ability to lower triglyceride levels, prevent arrhythmias, decrease platelet aggregation, and lower blood pressure. However, according to a recent systematic review, omega-3 PUFA supplementation are not being associated with a lower risk of sudden cardiac death.

The risk factors for SCD are similar to those of coronary artery disease and include age, cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lack of physical exercise, obesity, diabetes, and family history. A prior episode of sudden cardiac arrest also increases the risk of future episodes.

Current cigarette smokers with coronary artery disease were found to have a two to threefold increase in the risk of sudden death between ages 30 and 59. Furthermore, it was found that former smokers risk was closer to that of those who had never smoked.

In otherwise healthy patients, occasional premature atrial contractions are a common and normal finding and do not indicate any particular health risk. Rarely, in patients with other underlying structural heart problems, PACs can trigger a more serious arrhythmia such as atrial flutter or atrial fibrillation. In otherwise healthy people, PACs usually disappear with adolescence.

Hypertension, or abnormally high blood pressure, often signifies an elevated level of both psychological and physiological stress. Often, hypertension goes hand in hand with various atrial fibrillations including premature atrial contractions (PACs). Additional factors that may contribute to spontaneous premature atrial contractions could be:

- Increased age

- Abnormal body height

- History of cardiovascular disease (CV)

- Abnormal ANP levels

- Elevated cholesterol

Congenital heart defects are structural or electrical pathway problems in the heart that are present at birth. Anyone can be affected with this because overall health does not play a role in the problem. Problems with the electrical pathway of the heart can cause very fast or even deadly arrhythmias. Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome is due to an extra pathway in the heart that is made up of electrical muscle tissue. This tissue allows the electrical impulse, which stimulates the heartbeat, to happen very rapidly. Right Ventricular outflow tract Tachycardia is the most common type of ventricular tachycardia in otherwise healthy individuals. This defect is due to an electrical node in the right ventricle just before the pulmonary artery. When the node is stimulated, the patient will go into ventricular tachycardia, which does not allow the heart to fill with blood before beating again. Long QT Syndrome is another complex problem in the heart and has been labeled as an independent factor in mortality. There are multiple methods of treatment for these including cardiac ablations, medication treatment, or altering your lifestyle to have less stress and exercise. It is possible to live a full and happy life with these conditions.

Ventricular tachycardia can occur due to coronary heart disease, aortic stenosis, cardiomyopathy, electrolyte problems (e.g., low blood levels of magnesium or potassium), inherited channelopathies (e.g., long-QT syndrome), catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, or a heart attack.

Arrhythmia may be classified by rate (tachycardia, bradycardia), mechanism (automaticity, re-entry, triggered) or duration (isolated premature beats; couplets; runs, that is 3 or more beats; non-sustained= less than 30 seconds or sustained= over 30 seconds).

It is also appropriate to classify by site of origin:

Risk factors for long QT syndrome include the following:

- female sex

- increasing age

- liver or renal impairment

- family history of congenital long QT syndrome

- pre-existing cardiovascular disease

- electrolyte imbalance: especially hypokalemia, hypocalcemia, hypomagnesemia

- concurrent administration of interacting drugs

Anorexia nervosa has been associated with sudden death, possibly due to QT prolongation. It can lead a person to have dangerous electrolyte imbalances, leading to acquired long QT syndrome and can in turn result in sudden cardiac death. This can develop over a prolonged period of time, and the risk is further heightened when feeding resumes after a period of abstaining from consumption. Care must be taken under such circumstances to avoid complications of refeeding syndrome.

Ventricular fibrillation has been described as "chaotic asynchronous fractionated activity of the heart" (Moe et al. 1964). A more complete definition is that ventricular fibrillation is a "turbulent, disorganized electrical activity of the heart in such a way that the recorded electrocardiographic deflections continuously change in shape, magnitude and direction".

Ventricular fibrillation most commonly occurs within diseased hearts, and, in the vast majority of cases, is a manifestation of underlying ischemic heart disease. Ventricular fibrillation is also seen in those with cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, and other heart pathologies. In addition, it is seen with electrolyte imbalance, overdoses of cardiotoxic drugs, and following near drowning or major trauma. It is also notable that ventricular fibrillation occurs where there is no discernible heart pathology or other evident cause, the so-called idiopathic ventricular fibrillation.

Idiopathic ventricular fibrillation occurs with a reputed incidence of approximately 1% of all cases of out-of-hospital arrest, as well as 3%-9% of the cases of ventricular fibrillation unrelated to myocardial infarction, and 14% of all ventricular fibrillation resuscitations in patients under the age of 40. It follows then that, on the basis of the fact that ventricular fibrillation itself is common, idiopathic ventricular fibrillation accounts for an appreciable mortality. Recently described syndromes such as the Brugada Syndrome may give clues to the underlying mechanism of ventricular arrhythmias. In the Brugada syndrome, changes may be found in the resting ECG with evidence of right bundle branch block (RBBB) and ST elevation in the chest leads V1-V3, with an underlying propensity to sudden cardiac death.

The relevance of this is that theories of the underlying pathophysiology and electrophysiology must account for the occurrence of fibrillation in the apparent "healthy" heart. It is evident that there are mechanisms at work that we do not fully appreciate and understand. Investigators are exploring new techniques of detecting and understanding the underlying mechanisms of sudden cardiac death in these patients without pathological evidence of underlying heart disease.

Familial conditions that predispose individuals to developing ventricular fibrillation and sudden cardiac death are often the result of gene mutations that affect cellular transmembrane ion channels. For example, in Brugada Syndrome, sodium channels are affected. In certain forms of long QT syndrome, the potassium inward rectifier channel is affected.

Due to the reentrant nature of atrial flutter, it is often possible to ablate the circuit that causes atrial flutter with radiofrequency catheter ablation. Catheter ablation is considered to be a first-line treatment method for many people with typical atrial flutter due to its high rate of success (>90%) and low incidence of complications. This is done in the cardiac electrophysiology lab by causing a ridge of scar tissue in the cavotricuspid isthmus that crosses the path of the circuit that causes atrial flutter. Eliminating conduction through the isthmus prevents reentry, and if successful, prevents the recurrence of the atrial flutter. Atrial fibrillation often occurs (30% within 5 years) after catheter ablation for atrial flutter.

Sinus tachycardia is usually a response to normal physiological situations, such as exercise and an increased sympathetic tone with increased catecholamine release—stress, fright, flight, anger. Other causes include:

- Pain

- Fever

- Anxiety

- Dehydration

- Malignant hyperthermia

- Hypovolemia with hypotension and shock

- Anemia

- Heart failure

- Hyperthyroidism

- Mercury poisoning

- Kawasaki disease

- Pheochromocytoma

- Sepsis

- Pulmonary embolism

- Acute coronary ischemia and myocardial infarction

- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

- Hypoxia

- Intake of stimulants such as caffeine, theophylline, nicotine, cocaine, or amphetamines

- Hyperdynamic circulation

- Electric shock

- Drug withdrawal

- Porphyria

- Acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy

- Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome

Tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy (TIC) is a disease where prolonged tachycardia (a fast heart rate) or arrhythmia (an irregular heart rhythm) cause an impairment of the myocardium (heart muscle), which can result in heart failure. People with TIC may have symptoms associated with heart failure (e.g. shortness of breath or ankle swelling) and/or symptoms related to the tachycardia or arrhythmia (e.g. palpitations). Though atrial fibrillation is the most common cause of TIC, several tachycardias and arrhythmias have been associated with the disease.

There are no formal diagnostic criteria for TIC. Thus, TIC is typically diagnosed when (1) tests have excluded other causes of cardiomyopathy and (2) there is improvement in myocardial function after treatment of the tachycardia or arrhythmia. Treatment of TIC can involve treating the heart failure as well as the tachycardia or arrhythmia. TIC has a good prognosis with treatment, with most people recovering some to all of their heart function.

The number of cases that occur is unclear. TIC has been reported in all age groups.

Hypertension or high blood pressure affects at least 4 billion people worldwide. Hypertensive heart disease is only one of several diseases attributable to high blood pressure. Other diseases caused by high blood pressure include ischemic heart disease, stroke, peripheral arterial disease, aneurysms and kidney disease. Hypertension increases the risk of heart failure by two or three-fold and probably accounts for about 25% of all cases of heart failure. In addition, hypertension precedes heart failure in 90% of cases, and the majority of heart failure in the elderly may be attributable to hypertension. Hypertensive heart disease was estimated to be responsible for 1.0 million deaths worldwide in 2004 (or approximately 1.7% of all deaths globally), and was ranked 13th in the leading global causes of death for all ages. A world map shows the estimated disability-adjusted life years per 100,000 inhabitants lost due to hypertensive heart disease in 2004.