Bradycardia

Causes

The chance of developing bradycardia increases as a person ages. Causes include:

• Normal age-related changes to the heart's electrical system
• Damage to the electrical system caused by heart attack
• Other medical conditions

Many people with bradycardia have heart disease. Some have atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Others have different heart problems, such as:

• Long-term high blood pressure (hypertension)
• Abnormalities of the heart valves (thin tissues that keep blood flowing in one direction through the heart). Read more about heart valve disease.
• Abnormalities of the heart's pumping function

Some people who have bradycardia do not have underlying heart disease. The cause is often unknown. But possible causes include:

• An underactive thyroid or other metabolic imbalance
• Abnormalities within individual heart cells
• Abnormal electrical properties of groups of heart cells
• Emphysema or other lung diseases