Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia worldwide, and it has a 
significant effect on morbidity and mortality. It is a significant risk factor 
for stroke and peripheral embolization, and it has an effect on cardiac 
function. Despite widespread interest and extensive research on this topic, our 
understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of this disease process is still 
incomplete. As a result, there are no set primary preventive strategies in place 
apart from general cardiology risk factor prevention goals. It seems intuitive 
that a better understanding of the risk factors for AF would better prepare 
medical professionals to initially prevent or subsequently treat these patients. 
In this article, we discuss widely established risk factors for AF and explore 
newer risk factors currently being investigated that may have implications in 
the primary prevention of AF. For this review, we conducted a search of PubMed 
and used the following search terms (or a combination of terms): atrial 
fibrillation, metabolic syndrome, obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, type 2 
diabetes mellitus, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, exercise toxicity, alcohol 
abuse, and treatment. We also used additional articles that were identified from 
the bibliographies of the retrieved articles to examine the published evidence 
for the risk factors of AF.