We present a QRS detection algorithm for wearable ECG applications using a proportional-derivative (PD) control. ECG data of arrhythmia have irregular intervals and magnitudes of QRS waves that impede correct QRS detection. To resolve the problem, PD control is applied to avoid missing a small QRS wave followed from a large QRS wave and to avoid falsely detecting noise as QRS waves when an interval between two adjacent QRS waves is large (e.g. bradycardia, pause, and arioventricular block). ECG data was obtained from 78 patients with various cardiovascular diseases and tested for the performance evaluation of the proposed algorithm. The overall sensitivity and positive predictive value were 99.28% and 99.26%, respectively. The proposed algorithm has low computational complexity, so that it can be suitable to apply mobile ECG monitoring system in real time.