They show that these drugs don't just help people with high blood pressure, but anyone who's had a stroke

John Reid, University of Glasgow

Both drugs are available in the UK, and GPs could prescribe them for stroke patients.

Results showed the risk of a stroke was cut by around 25%, looking at all patients, and by almost 50% for those whose stroke had involved bleeding in the brain.

One in 11 patients given the drugs for five years would avoid a further stroke, heart attack, or death from cardiovascular disease, the study showed.

The risk of complications of stroke, such as dementia and disability, were also reduced.

Findings from the study were presented to the European Society of Cardiologists in Stockholm this week.

John Reid, professor of medicine and therapeutics at the University of Glasgow, who co-ordinated the UK part of the six-year study, told BBC News Online: "These findings are really important. They show that these drugs don't just help people with high blood pressure, but anyone who's had a stroke."

And he said it was important because aspirin could not be given to everyone who had had a stroke.

Risk

Around 60,000 people die after a stroke every year in England and Wales. Approximately 100,000 suffer a first stroke.

Globally, about one in five survivors will suffer another stroke or heart attack within five years.

More than two-thirds of all strokes occur in people who do not have high blood pressure as defined by World Health Organization standards.

The doctors who led the study say the drugs, which showed few side effects, should be available to everyone who has suffered a stroke.

A spokesman for the Stroke Association said: "This is very exciting as the research involved a very large number of people.

"Studies show that patients who suffer a stroke have a 40% risk of having another stroke and anything that helps to reduce the risk of secondary stroke or transient ischaemic attack in patients is good news.

"Uncontrolled high blood pressure is the number one cause of avoidable strokes. Four in ten people who die from stroke could have been saved if they had arranged regular blood pressure checks and then followed medical advice."