Aspirin alert for asthma sufferers

Asthma sufferers were today warned they could have a fatal reaction from taking aspirin.

Doctors say as many as one in five patients who suffer from the illness could collapse within minutes if they take the everyday pills.

New research suggests other over-the-counter painkillers, such as ibuprofen, could also pose a serious risk. Today experts called on drugs companies to alert patients by carrying standard warnings on packaging.

An estimated 10 million people in Britain have asthma, and rates of the condition have doubled in the last 20 years. This week it emerged that children in the UK have the worst rates of asthma in the world.

Until now, it was thought that only 10 per cent of asthmatics were likely to suffer severe adverse reactions if they took aspirin.

But researchers in Britain and Australia put the real figure at more than 20 per cent.

The new research is published in the British Medical Journal, which analysed 21 past studies of asthmaticpatients and concluded the prevalence of aspirin-induced asthma was 21 per cent in adults and five per cent in children.

John Costello, clinical director of medicine at King's College Hospital in London, who led the study, said: "There is a very large population at risk. These people should be made aware of the risk and that it is not just aspirin but other common drugs like ibuprofen which can trigger asthma in those people who are sensitive to it."

Aspirin is included in more than 50 over-the-counter medicines for headaches, rheumatism and colds.