The latest NCAA drug-testing data from January through June 1999 indicate an upward trend in positive tests for the banned substance nandrolone.

The number of nandrolone positives in the six-month period pushed the total for the 1998-99 academic year to an all-time high of 38. That number represents a significant jump in nandrolone positives that had been relatively steady over the last four years (18 in 1994-95, 13 in 1995-96 and 1996-97, and 14 in 1997-98).

"All of sport has seen an increase in nandrolone positives," said Frank D. Uryasz, director of the National Center for Drug-Free Sport, which administers the NCAA's drug-testing program. "Almost all of these cases are due to athletes' use of supplement products such as those containing the banned steroid 19-norandrostenedione. NCAA cases are no exception."

Overall results during the January-June 1999 period indicated that of the 4,838 student-athletes tested, 49 -- about 1 percent -- were ruled ineligible as the result of a positive drug test. The percentage is about the same as the previous six-month period in August-December 1998.

The percentage also compares with the positive rates for most sports drug-testing programs, which usually are between 1 and 2 percent.

But Uryasz said the jump in nandrolone positives is alarming, particularly because the trend may not yet have peaked despite stepped-up educational efforts from the NCAA and its member schools.

"Athletes need to believe us when we say that the use of supplement products like this will cause positive drug tests," he said. "If they don't believe us, they can ask the 38 student-athletes who got caught in 1998-99.

"I fear the numbers for the next period will look worse."

Uryasz said he believes schools can continue to combat the trend by improving supplement education for student-athletes. He also said schools should continue to push for federal assistance in removing those steroids from the marketplace.

Another interesting item in the latest six-month report occurred in positive tests for ephedrine. All three positives in the June-January report were in women's sports. Ephedrine is marketed as a weight-loss supplement and women athletes are a primary target audience.

In championships drug-testing results, testing yielded only a small number of positives.

"This is to be expected since championship participants anticipate testing if they attend an NCAA championship," Uryasz said. "Other sport drug-testing organizations see similar results. Nevertheless, in-competition testing remains necessary inasmuch as some substances are taken immediately before competition to enhance performance. Post-event drug testing deters such use."

The NCAA is the only athletics organization that conducts drug testing and reports its drug-testing data in aggregate form while protecting the confidentiality of the individual. Those data are provided to member schools to assist in the development of educational/preventative programs to deter the use of drugs banned by the NCAA. They do not necessarily reflect collegiate student-athletes' substance-use patterns.

Drug-testing results -- Five-year comparison by program by year