© Zeenat Qureshi Stroke Institutes“A common question for women is whether to risk pregnancy after a previous ischemic stroke. Our analysis found that women are at a greater risk of recurrent ischemic stroke during pregnancy and in the six weeks after giving birth, and the increased risk is not influenced by other risk factors,” said study lead author Adnan I. Qureshi, M.D., a professor of neurology at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, and founder of Zeenat Qureshi Stroke Institutes. “Now, women and their health care professionals can make a more informed decision about the risks related to pregnancy. Women who have experienced a stroke and become pregnant need additional attention to ensure they get the highest level of care to reduce their risk of another stroke.”Using electronic health records from hospitals across the U.S., researchers analyzed the risk of new ischemic stroke in women ages 15 to 50 with and without a history of previous stroke who had recently delivered a baby (considered the early postpartum period). They compared the rates of strokes from 2015 to 2025 in women who had a recurrent stroke in pregnancy or soon after childbirth with the other women who had a first-time stroke during the same period.