Objective: To reveal the trend of minority students' health from 1995 to 2005 in China.
Methods: We selected 15 minority groups wtih data pertaining to students' nutritional status, poor vision and decayed tooth in 1995, 2000 and 2005. The minority groups were Mongolian, Hui, Uygur, Zhuang, Korean, Tibetan, Yao, Li, Qiang, Bouyei, Dong, Hmong, Tu, Salar and Kirgiz.
Results: The prevalences of underweight and malnutrition in 2005 in Mongolian, Hui, Uygur, Zhuang and Korean students aged 7 - 22 years were lower than that of 1995 and 2000, indicating the nutrition status was improved. The prevalence of malnutrition in city girls was the highest. The mild malnutrition rates in 2005 decreased to 2.69%, 4.67%, 3.68%, 9.62% and 2.65% but the prevalence of overweight and obesity increased. For city boys, the rates were 5.50%, 8.12%, 2.69%, 3.69% and 13.50%. The prevalence of decayed tooth changed but with no significant differences. The prevalence rates of poor vision and myopia kept increasing. The minority students' myopia rates in 2005 were 29.5%, 39.1%, 10.1%, 42.6%, 41.1%, for boys and 45.4%, 50.0%, 15.4%, 49.7%, 46.7% for girls.
Conclusion: In order to improve the health of students in minority regions, we need to promote health education at schools.