ASPIRIN ‘CUTS CANCER DEATH RISK BY 30%.

Taking aspirin daily after being diagnosed with bowel cancer can reduce the chances of dying by almost a third.

Research has shown patients who took the painkiller for at least nine months after diagnosis cut the risk by 30%.

The study in the Netherlands also found that those who took it for any length of time after being diagnosed reduced the odds by 23% compared with not taking it at all.

Tests were carried out on 4,500 bowel cancer patients diagnosed between 1998 and 2007.

A quarter were not aspirin users, another quarter only took aspirin after diagnosis, while the remaining group took it both before and after developing cancer.

Lead researcher Dr Gerrit-Jan Liefers, from Leiden University Medical Centre, said: “Our findings could have profound clinical implications. In this study, we showed the therapeutic effect of a widely-available, familiar drug that costs mere pennies per day.