If you've had a stroke or a mini-stroke, you're at risk of another one. About 4 in 10 men who have had a stroke will have another one within five years. For women, this figure is more than 2 in 10.

A second or further stroke or mini-stroke often causes more damage than the first and is more likely to leave you disabled. The good news is that there are treatments that can help you lower your chances of having another one.

To find out more about why strokes happen and how they are treated, see our section on Stroke, emergency care. Here, we discuss the treatments that can help prevent another stroke.

Key points about preventing another stroke

• Taking drugs to lower your blood pressure can help prevent another stroke.

• Taking aspirin every day can lower your chances of having another stroke.

• Taking drugs called statins to lower your cholesterol may make it less likely that you'll have another stroke.

• If you have severe blockages in the blood vessels in your neck, having an operation to remove the blockages (called a carotid endarterectomy) can help prevent another stroke.

• Treatment to prevent strokes is different for people who have an irregular heartbeat ( atrial fibrillation). An irregular heartbeat can cause blood clots. These can cause a stroke. You can lower your chance of having another stroke by taking warfarin, an anticoagulant drug, which helps prevent your blood clotting.

• Treatments for preventing strokes work best for people who are most likely to have another stroke. To find out what increases a person's chance of having another stroke, see Risk factors for having a second stroke.

Which treatments work best? We've looked at the best research and given a rating for each treatment according to how well it works.We've also looked at treatments to prevent a stroke for people who have an irregular heartbeat.

For help in deciding which treatment is best for you, see How to make the best decisions about treatment.

We've looked separately at treatments to prevent a further stroke for people who've had one before, and treatments to prevent a further stroke for people who have an irregular heartbeat.

• Treatments for people who have had a stroke or mini-stroke

• Treatments for people with an abnormal heartbeat (atrial fibrillation) who have had a stroke or mini-stroke

If you're looking for information on emergency treatments for a stroke, see What treatments work for a stroke?