Many pregnant and postpartum women who suffer a stroke had warning signs that health care professionals missed, a new study says.

More than 25% went to a doctor for stroke-related symptoms within the month prior to their stroke, but did not receive a timely diagnosis, researchers report in the journal Stroke.

“Our findings show that early warning signs are often missed, especially by clinicians without neurology training and that education across specialties is essential,” senior researcher Dr. Eliza Miller, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh, said in a news release.

Stroke is a major health risk for women during pregnancy and after delivery, researchers said in background notes. At least 1 in every 12 deaths among pregnant and postpartum women is caused by a stroke.

“Stroke prevention is vital. We must close diagnostic gaps to protect maternal health,” Miller said.

For the new study, she and her team checked the medical records of 135 women treated for pregnancy-related stroke at five comprehensive stroke centers.

In all, 27% of the women had gone to the doctor prior to their stroke for symptoms related to their impending health crisis.

Strokes among expecting and new mothers can take the form of unusual and non-specific symptoms like severe headache, neck pain and confusion, researchers said.

“Our analysis found that nearly half of patients who had seen a health care provider prior to stroke diagnosis were evaluated by obstetricians and approximately one-third by emergency medicine clinicians,” Miller said.

Among patients with missed diagnostic opportunities, 84% of the time doctors failed to recognize symptoms and 81% didn’t order brain imaging scans that might have revealed the women’s risk.

“This, to us, represents a knowledge gap across specialties and reveals an opportunity to expand clinician education to recognize early signs of maternal stroke,” Miller said.