Youth Steroid Use Believed Rising : Health: A federal study estimates a quarter of a million young athletes, mostly boys, have used the potentially harmful drugs to enhance performance.

More than a quarter of a million American teen-agers, most of them boys, have used potentially harmful performance-enhancing anabolic steroids, and their numbers are believed to be on the rise, federal health officials said Friday.

A study released by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services estimated that 262,000 students in grades 7 through 12 have used steroids, based on a survey conducted last year by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The institute estimated that 3% of students in this age group have used steroids, but it cautioned that the figures were conservative because they did not take into account school dropouts and those who simply would not admit to steroid use. The study said that one researcher had told the agency that the number of users will always be under-reported because “the secrecy involved in steroid use is so great.”

Non-medical use of anabolic steroids--synthetic derivatives of the natural male hormone testosterone--is illegal. Nevertheless, the drugs have been in widespread use since the 1950s by athletes to increase muscle mass, strength and training capacity.

A growing body of evidence has linked steroids to numerous health problems, including sterility, increased cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, liver damage, increased irritability and even violent behavior.

In another study of steroid use, presented to the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual convention in May, the National Youth Sports Research Development Center at Northern Kentucky University disclosed that its national survey suggested that as many as 200,000 U.S. athletes between the ages of 10 and 14 had used steroids. The report released Friday recommended that the Department of Health and Human Services develop a national education strategy to “increase adult and adolescent awareness of the problem and provide educational guidelines for local programs.”

Further, it said, “the message for adolescents must come early and be reinforced in an honest, consistent way from their peers and responsible adults.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan said the report contains “disturbing findings about the widespread abuse of powerful and potentially dangerous anabolic steroid drugs by our nation’s young people.”

He added: “I am very concerned that some adults who are charged with our young people’s welfare might be passively accepting or even tacitly approving the use of these dangerous drugs. Because of the insidious, short-term appeal of these drugs, it is essential that our teachers, coaches and others in contact with young athletes make extra efforts to present the very real health hazards that steroids hold.”

Sullivan said the department would form an interagency task force on anabolic steroids to seek new approaches to combatting their use. He said the Food and Drug Administration is conducting an educational campaign directed at young athletes and their coaches.

In addition, Sullivan said the FDA’s efforts “are about to be redoubled” with a new public affairs campaign. Information has been sent to every high school principal and athletic director in the country, 11,000 school superintendents, 800 college athletic departments and 44,000 coaches, he said.

The department conducted its survey by interviewing 30 experts on steroid use and 72 current or former steroid users, and by reviewing recent studies on the issue.

The report said that 53% of the sample group reported having tried steroids for the first time by age 16, and 85% had started by the age of 17. “Most of our users also say they progressively intensified their steroid use,” the report said.

The report blamed adults, in addition to peers, for influencing steroid use among teen-agers. Experts interviewed by the researchers cited “parents, coaches/trainers, successful athletes or entertainment personalities that act as role models” as sources of pressure for adolescents to use steroids.