Rare diseases · Sign or symptom
Atrial fibrillation
Quivering upper heart chambers resulting in irregular heartbeat
HP:0005110
What it means
An atrial arrhythmia characterized by disorganized atrial activity without discrete P waves on the surface EKG, but instead by an undulating baseline or more sharply circumscribed atrial deflections of varying amplitude an frequency ranging from 350 to 600 per minute.
The ventricular response to atrial fibrillation is irregularly irregular because of the large number of atrial impulses that transit the atrioventricular node, making the ventricle partially refractory to further impulses. Atrial fibrillation can cause a number of manifestations including excessive ventricular response with angina pectoris or hypotension in susceptible individuals, syncope, systemic embolization, fatigue, or anxiety. These features should be coded separately.
In everyday care
Most people with this sign do not have a rare disease — it appears in common conditions far more often. These general reference pages cover the same topic:
Rare diseases that can present with this26
Common30–79%
11- Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia
- Congenital short QT syndrome
- Ebstein malformation of the tricuspid valve
- Eisenmenger syndrome
- Familial dilated cardiomyopathy with conduction defect due to LMNA mutation
- Familial idiopathic dilatation of the right atrium
- Hereditary atrial fibrillation
- Interatrial communication
- Multifocal atrial tachycardia
- Steinert myotonic dystrophy
- Wild type ATTR amyloidosis
Sometimes5–29%
12- Absence of the pulmonary artery
- Adenine phosphoribosyltransferase deficiency
- Aneurysm-osteoarthritis syndrome
- Atrial septal defect, ostium primum type
- Atrial septal defect, ostium secundum type
- Atrial septal defect, sinus venosus type
- Autosomal dominant progressive external ophthalmoplegia
- Ethylene glycol poisoning
and 4 more in this range
The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.
Part of the broader category
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Start free with EleplanThis page uses the Human Phenotype Ontology (2026-06-23) — Human Phenotype Ontology Consortium, hpo.jax.org. Disease associations from Orphanet (INSERM), CC BY 4.0. Content is educational and is not medical advice.