SINUS RESPIRATORY ARRHYTHMIA IN CHILDREN WITH RHEUMATIC HEART DISEASE

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Abstract
The normal child's heart shows sinus respiratory arrhythmia. The absence of this arrhythmia is looked on as evidence of heart injury, and its presence is considered by some investigators1as sufficient proof that the child's heart is not damaged. My observations on children with rheumatic heart disease do not confirm the opinion that the presence of sinus respiratory arrhythmia is evidence of a normal heart. In my experience, this form of arrhythmia is absent only in the most serious cases of heart disease. To illustrate my experiences, I analyzed the findings in a small unselected group of 100 cases, all of them showing rheumatic heart disease with valvular injury and severe enough to be bed cases in the hospital. Eighty of the 100 cases showed sinus respiratory arrhythmia evident enough to be easily detected on simple auscultation. However, as indicated in the accompanying table showing the greater incidence of

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