ASA: Ischemic Stroke History Doubles Risk for Recurrent Ischemic Stroke While Pregnant or Early Postpartum

MONDAY, Feb. 2, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Women with a previous history of ischemic stroke have doubled odds of having another ischemic stroke during pregnancy or early postpartum, according to a study scheduled to be presented at the annual American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference, held from Feb. 4 to 6 in New Orleans.Adnan I. Qureshi, M.D., from the University of Missouri in Columbia, and colleagues examined the risk for ischemic stroke during pregnancy or in the postpartum period (within six weeks) among women with a history of previous ischemic stroke. The analysis included 220,479 pregnancies among women with and without a previous history of ischemic stroke (1,192 pregnancies and 219,287 pregnancies, respectively), identified from Oracle Health Real-World Data.The researchers found that the incident event rate of new ischemic stroke was 34.82 percent among pregnant women with a history of ischemic stroke and 0.34 percent among pregnant women without a history of ischemic stroke. The risk for ischemic stroke during pregnancy or the early postpartum period was doubled among pregnancies in women with a history of ischemic stroke versus those without (odds ratio [OR], 2.37). Similarly, the risk for ischemic stroke during pregnancy or the early postpartum period was significantly higher among pregnancies in women with previous myocardial infarction (OR, 1.82) and in women with obesity (OR, 1.25)."Women who are pregnant and with a history of stroke should be managed at health care centers that have experience with high-risk pregnancies," Qureshi said in a statement. "There are no clinical guidelines for the management of these high-risk pregnancies. Hopefully, this study will promote the identification and categorization of these women in the high-risk pregnancy group so they can get a higher level of care from the beginning."Press ReleaseMore Information.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

ASA: Ischemic Stroke History Doubles Risk for Recurrent Ischemic Stroke While Pregnant or Early Postpartum

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