Causes, Symptoms and Care of risk for decreased cardiac output
Are you searching for the meaning, cause, symptoms, diagnosis, care and risk for decreased cardiac output? If yes, you are at the best place to get an answer to all of these.
What is cardiac output?
The total amount of blood that is pumped out by our heart in a minute is our cardiac output. If you learn deeper about it, you will come to know that cardiac output is the product of heart rate and stroke volume.
What does decreased cardiac output mean?
Decreased cardiac output is the condition when there is an inadequate supply of blood by the heart to meet the metabolic needs of our body.
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Causes of decreased cardiac output
You may be here for risk for decreased cardiac output, but knowing the cause is important to begin. To know the causes of decreased cardiac output, you can simply wonder what factors are responsible for heart to not pump enough blood to our body.
It is true that there are many factors that determine cardiac output. In the same way, decreased cardiac output may result from many reasons. In general, elderly people are more likely to suffer from decreased cardiac output. This is because elderly people are at a higher risk of cardiac problems.
Some common causes include:
- Electrolyte imbalance
- Fluid overload
- Decreased volume of fluid
- Congenital heart diseases
- Myocardial infarction
- Valvular heart disease
- Hypertension
- Heart failure
- Drug effects
- Pulmonary diseases
- Arrhythmias
Symptoms of risk for decreased cardiac output
How to know if someone is really at the risk for decreased cardiac output? By studying the signs and symptoms. Here we present some of the most common symptoms of decreased cardiac output.
You should also keep in mind that people with decreased cardiac output may not show all the symptoms that we are going to mention below.
- Weakness and fatigue
- Low blood pressure
- Rapid breathing
- Weak and irregular pulse
- Tachycardia
- Weight gain and anxiety
- Reduced urine output
- Dizziness and fainting
- Chest pain
- Liver enlargement
- Dull-looking skin
- Swelling may occur in ankles, feet or abdomen
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Assessment and diagnosis of decreased cardiac output
A medical professional can diagnose decreased cardiac output in simple checks. Some of the common assessments done to check if the person is facing decreased cardiac output are as follows:
| Assessment | Diagnosis of decreased cardiac output |
| Pulse | Irregular pulse reading |
| Heart rate | 60 or more than 60 heartbeats per minute are observed |
| Heart sound | Soft, weak and irregular |
| Respiratory rate, breathing sounds and rhythms | Difficult to catch breath, quick and shallow breathing observed |
| Blood pressure | Low blood pressure observed |
| Appearance | Pale or clammy skin Urine output and number of times the patient urinates – Low output and rate less than 30 milliliters per hour |
| Chest pain | Generally chest pain occurs |
| Chest X-ray | An enlarged heart or fluid may be seen in the lungs |
| Echocardiogram test | Faster pumping with not filling up properly |
| Fatigue inquiry | Generally fatigue and weakness is observed |
| Oxygen saturation | Oxygen saturation changes than normal |
| Inspect weight gain | Generally patient gains weight |
Major signs of outcomes at risk for decreased cardiac output
Depending upon the possible causes of decreased cardiac output, in some cases the cardiac output can return to normal. While there are cases when it is a chronic issue and difficult to get back a normal cardiac output. However, installing a completely new lifestyle may help to get normal cardiac output even in chronic cases. Let us know the evidence that shows improvement in cardiac output in those who tackle with risk for decreased cardiac output.
- Pulse rate is steady, normally 60 to 100 beats in a minute
- Normal blood pressure
- Unlaboured breathing
- Normal urine output.
- Minimum rate of 30 milliliters per hour
- Weakness and fatigue slowly disappears
- No feeling of dizziness
- Skin colour returns to normal
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Summary
The risk for decreased cardiac output occurs when the heart fails to supply an adequate amount of blood to the body. This fails to meet the metabolic requirements of the body. Decreased cardiac output may result from various factors. Some of them include heart diseases, pulmonary diseases, low blood pressure etc.
The general symptoms of decreased cardiac output include weakness, rapid breathing and heart rate, pale skin, reduced urine output etc. To confirm decreased cardiac output in a patient, a medical professional may check pulse rate, blood pressure, urine output, heart sound, breathing rate etc.
Dr Aadarsh Yadav
Dr Adarsh Yadav is a registered medical expert currently is a medical officer at the department of paediatrics at Scheer memorial Adventist hospital, kavre, Nepal. He had been a very well trained medical practitioner, and apart from his medical practice, he had been a member of different health camps organizing blood donation camps in Bangladesh just during his internship.
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