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Key Takeaways
- Irregular heartbeats, or ectopic beats, are premature electrical impulses in your heart. They fall into three types: Premature Atrial Contraction (PAC), Premature Ventricular Contraction (PVC), and Premature Junctional Contraction (PJC). You can identify each irregular heartbeat on your ECG readings by specific characteristics, such as the location of the extra beat and changes in your P Waves and QRS Complexes.
- Ectopic beats can occur as isolated occurrences or in groups such as couplets or runs. They can also follow specific patterns, including bigeminy and trigeminy. Frequent ectopic beats may indicate an underlying heart issue and should be evaluated by your healthcare provider.
- Smartwatches like Apple Watch, Fitbit, and Samsung watches can help monitor and visualize ectopic beats. This articles provides visual examples of irregular heartbeats on watch ECGs. By recognizing the visual patterns of PACs, PVCs, and PJCs on your ECG readings, you can take better care and control of your heart health.
Introduction
Do you remember the last time your heart was fluttering, jumping, pounding, or skipping a beat? These heart palpitations are alarming, and you may have experienced a premature electrical impulse in the heart’s cycle known as an “ectopic beat,” or “premature beat.” Now, see them directly on your Apple Watch ECG, Fitbit ECG, Samsung watch ECG, or any other ECG. Here's how.
Why Do Ectopic Beats Occur?
Your heart is a thing of marvel — most cells in your heart are capable of beating all on their own. To keep your heart beating at a regular pace, a cluster of cells known as the sinoatrial (SA) node acts as the heart’s natural pacemaker. Sometimes, however, one of your other heart cells beats at a faster pace and causes other cells to follow the new march of its drum. This leads to a premature heartbeat, also known as an ectopic heartbeat.
When your heart experiences these premature beats, a brief pause usually follows where the SA node resets itself before the next beat. This can cause a feeling of an extra beat or a skipped beat, along with a fluttering sensation. Usually, ectopic heartbeats are asymptomatic: nearly everyone experiences a few ectopic heartbeats every day. But frequent occurrences could be linked to heart problems.
So what are the different types of ectopic beats? And how can you spot palpitations on your Apple Watch, Fitbit, or Samsung ECG? Let’s dive in.
Types of Ectopic Beats
Ectopic heartbeats fall into one of three buckets depending on the source of the electrical impulse: PACs (atrial), PVCs (ventricular) and PJCs (junctional).
Premature Atrial Contraction (PAC)
A premature atrial contraction (PAC) occurs when an extra heartbeat originates in the atria — or top of the heart — in a location other than the SA node.
How to Identify a PAC
The hallmark of a PAC is a premature P wave observed before the next expected normal beat. This premature P wave usually has a different shape: it can be wider, or taller, narrower or shorter, even upside-down. This really depends on where exactly in the atria the PAC is coming from. If it comes from somewhere near the SA node, it could look like a normal P wave. Additionally, a normal-looking QRS complex follows most PACs. Finally, PACs cause the natural pacemaker to "reset," which results in a longer interval before the next normal beat.
Premature Ventricular Contraction (PVC)
A premature ventricular contraction (PVC) occurs when an extra heartbeat originates in the ventricles, or bottom of the heart.
How to Identify a PVC
You can identify a PVC by its wide and bizarre QRS complex. The QRS complex of the PVC beat is typically wider than that of a normal beat. Also, PVCs interfere with the normal sinus rhythm by coming in before the next anticipated beat. Finally, you’ll notice that there’s no P wave before the QRS complex of a PVC beat.
Unifocal vs. Multifocal PVC
Unifocal PVCs look identical in appearance, and they originate from a single ectopic site.
Multifocal PVCs, on the other hand, arise from two or more ventricular sites. They also have different QRS shapes.
Premature Junctional Contraction (PJC)
A premature junctional contraction (PJC) occurs when an extra heart beat originates at the connection between the top of the heart (atrium) and the bottom (ventricle), in or near the atrioventricular (AV) node.
How to Identify a PJC
To identify a PJC, look for a premature QRS complex that shows up before the next expected normal beat. The P wave is either absent or upside down, and you’ll usually see it after the beginning of the QRS complex. Additionally, the QRS complex will look similar in shape to that of a normal beat.
Frequency of Premature Beats
Ectopic beats can either be isolated, or they can appear in groups.
Isolate: Single occurrence of an ectopic beat.
Couplet: Two consecutive ectopic beats.
Run: Three or more consecutive premature beats.
Get your ECG checked by certified experts within minutes on the Qaly app.
Pattern of Ectopic Beats
Ectopics can often occur in repeating patterns. Let’s look at the most common ones.
Bigeminy: An ectopic occurs after every normal beat.
Trigeminy: An ectopic occurs after every two normal beats.
Are Ectopic Beats a Cause for Concern?
Nearly everyone experiences a few ectopic beats every day, which is completely normal. Most people don’t feel these extra heartbeats; however, some are particularly sensitive to them, often describing the sensation as a “skipped heartbeat” or “extra heartbeat.” With a higher number of people reporting heart palpitations during COVID, many folks are sending their Fitbit ECG, Samsung ECG, and Apple Watch ECG to human experts through the Qaly app (on Android and iPhone) for heart palpitation monitoring.
If more than 1% of your heartbeats throughout a full day are ectopic, this may be a sign that there’s something going on. It’s difficult to know if you have frequent ectopics with a single, 30-second ECG strip. However, if you see more than one ectopic on the same 30-second ECG strip, this should make you wonder whether or not you may have frequent ectopics. This may be a good reason to check additional ECGs and talk to your healthcare provider, who will likely want to check your ectopic count with a continuous heart monitor.
Frequent ectopic beats can be caused by either electrical problems in the heart, or problems with the structure or heart muscle itself. Conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity can lead to abnormal heart muscle and, consequently, more ectopic beats than normal. Those with advanced heart conditions such as coronary disease or heart failure can also have more ectopic beats than normal. Conversely, a very high number of ectopic beats (such as over 15% PVCs) can lead to heart weakening. For these reasons, it’s always a good idea to talk to your healthcare provider if you seem to have frequent ectopics.
Conclusion
Well, that just about wraps up our guide on what ectopic heartbeats like PAC, PVC, and PJC look like on your watch ECG. We hope this could be of some help to you.
If you still need help interpreting your ECGs, don't worry, we understand how scary and confusing it can be to experience irregular heartbeats. That's why we created the Qaly app (on Android and iPhone) for you and for the hundreds of millions of people around the world who live with heart palpitations and abnormal heart rhythms. On the Qaly app, human experts will interpret your ECGs within minutes for clarity and peace of mind.
To get started with the Qaly app for free, grab the Qaly app from the App Store or Play Store today. If you have any more questions, or if you need our help in any other way, don't hesitate to reach out to us at support@qaly.co.
As always from the team at Qaly, stay heart healthy ❤️
Wondering if it's an irregular heartbeat? On the Qaly app, human experts will interpret your ECGs for PAC, PVC, and PJC within minutes. Get started for free today.
