Bose A, et al. - In 11,806 participants (55.2 % women) from the REGARDS study, researchers investigate if sex disparities in atrial fibrillation (AF) was associated to risk factors leading to AF being different or due to the same risk factors having a differential impact. They used electrocardiograms and medical history at follow-up to determine incident AF. They investigated AF risk factors in both sexes, separately, by using backwards elimination logistic regression. They reported AF development in 588 (11.1%) men and 428 (6.6%) women over a median follow-up of 9.0 years. Men vs women exhibited a higher risk of AF. AF risk factors shared by both sexes included age, white race, height, weight, use of blood pressure lowering medications, and history of cardiovascular disease. In women but not men, diabetes was identified as an AF risk factor. Overall, several AF risk factors were common between women and men, which explained the sex disparities, though gender-specific differences in age association with AF were evident. Age modified the links between sex and other AF risk factors.