Fetal tachycardia

What it means

The number of beats per minute (bpm) of the fetal heart is above the upper limit of the normal for the gestational age. Fetal tachycardia is thus defined as a heart rate greater than 160-180 bpm.

In the first trimester of pregnancy, the fetal heart rate (FHR)increases from 125 beats per minute (bpm) at 6 weeks to about175 bpm at 9 weeks, followed by a gradual decrease to about160 bpm at 14 weeks, noted in fetuses conceived by assisted reproductive procedures.

Rare diseases that can present with this1

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