Palpitation

Etiology/cause
In one cohort study, causes were identified in 84%:
 * Cardiac arrhythmia in 43%
 * Psychiatric, usually an anxiety disorder, in 31%
 * Miscellaneous in 10%

Evaluation
Helpful findings in one cohort study were:
 * Duration more than 5 minutes suggested cardiac arrhythmia
 * More than 5 total symptoms suggest psychiatric causes. A similar observation (two or more prodromal symptoms) has been observed for determining the cause of syncope.

Palpitations followed by syncope suggest cardiac arrhythmia.