A study that will appear in an upcoming issue of the Archives of Neurology has found that at least a quarter of patients who have had a stroke stop taking their preventative medications when the risk is highest for another stroke.

Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center studied 2,598 stroke patients to evaluate how many continued taking their prescribed medications to prevent a second stroke three months after their discharge from the hospital.

They found that while about 75 percent of those studied had continued with their full regimen of medications, nearly 20 percent of patients had stopped taking one or more of their prescribed medications, while 3.5 percent of patients weren’t taking any of their medications at three months.

"There is very little known about how stroke patients feel about their medications and all of the complicated reasons that people may or may not stay on those medications," said lead author Cheryl Bushnell, M.D. "Physicians can prescribe all of the right medications, but if patients don’t take them, they’re not receiving the benefits of prevention."

Preventative medications usually consist of aspirin or other type of blood thinner, blood pressure medication and cholesterol lowering medication.

Among the best ways to prevent strokes naturally are controlling hypertension, avoiding smoking, eating a healthy, low-fat diet and exercising, according to the National Stroke Association.