- Pregnancy, and in particular the postpartum period, are times of special risk for stroke for women. And compared to women who are not pregnant or postpartum, the risk of having a stroke in that time is about triple actually. So this is, it's a rare event but it can be a catastrophic event when it happens. It it can be fatal. It can cause permanent disability even if it's not fatal. So it's a very serious condition and the reasons for it are pretty complicated. But I would say if I had to put it into just one word why this happens it would be hypertension. And that is the major risk factor for maternal strokes. So hypertensive disorders of pregnancy including chronic hypertension, gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, eclampsia, these are the major risk factor for maternal stroke. And so in terms of how to solve the problem I think the key is going to be in treating hypertension in a different way than we're currently doing.