A new study suggests that pregnancy has a greater risk of inducing stroke in younger women compared to other non-pregnant peers. Findings show that the overall risk of acquiring stroke for younger women still resembles a very small chance, albeit increasing during and after pregnancy.

It remains unclear as to why the risk exists, but researchers said that it may be a cause of pre-eclampsia, a condition that dangerously increases blood pressure during pregnancy. According to Dr. Eliza Miller, a vascular neurologist under the New York-Presbyterian in the Columbia University of Medical Centre in New York, there are one in five strokes in women aged until 35 years old whose cases are related to pregnancy, according to Health Day.

She added that multiple studies have established that pregnancy, especially during the third trimester and postpartum period, is a time of a higher stroke risk for women. It remains a rare event, at only 34 per 100,000 deliveries.

Researchers studied statistics on women who had a stroke in New York from 2003 to 2012, and found that there are more than 19,000 cases of females were hospitalized with stroke aged 12-55, included around 800 who are pregnant at the time

"Pregnancy increased stroke risk in women under 35 but did not appear to increase in women over 35. In ages 12-24, pregnancy was more than double the risk of stroke, in the 25-34 pregnancy was associated with 60 percent higher risk of stroke. For women 35 and above the pregnancy didn't appear to increase the risk of stroke," said Miller.

The good news is that cases of pregnancy-related stroke is relatively rare. 51 women died of pregnancy-related stroke out of 3.8 million deliveries. Dr. Cheryl Bushnell explained why pregnancy boosts the risk of stroke: "Pregnancy leads to a higher tendency for blood to clot so when women deliver they don't bleed too much...the most significant risk for stroke occurs at delivery or right after because of the change in blood flow from pregnant to the post-pregnancy state, as well as the higher tendency for blood clots."

Bushnell advised those around with pregnant women, including children, to understand the signs and symptoms of a stroke and call 911 if there's any, via Health 24.

The following are the symptoms of stroke: weakness, numbness of arms and legs, drooping of the face, difficulty in speaking, and painful headache. The study was published in the "JAMA Neurology" journal.