Abstract:

Objective：To analyze the prevalence of anemia and its proportions of severity, and to exa-mine the association between anemia and nutritional status among Chinese students of ethnic minorities, so as to provide bases for the prevention and treatment of anemia. Methods: The subjects were Mongolian, Hui, Zhuang and Korean students aged 7, 9, 12, 14 and 17 years, sampled from the 2010 Chinese National Surveys on Students’ Constitution and Health. World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for screening anemia (2001) was used, and the proportion rates of mild, moderate and severe were analyzed. The nutritional status was defined according to the growth references of body mass index (BMI)-for-age z-score for 5-19 years developed by the WHO. Stepwise Logistic regression was used to assess the association between anemia and nutritional status, gender, urban/rural areas, age and ethnic minorities. Results: The prevalences of anemia were 4.4%, 26.4%, 6.6% and 5.8% in Mongolian, Hui, Zhuang and Korean students, respectively, of whom, the prevalence of anemia was highest in rural girls and reached 4.8%, 42.0%, 9.0% and 6.7%, respectively. Most of the ethnic minorities’ students belonged to mild anemia, and the prevalence of severe anemia was 1.4%, 12.9%, 1.6% and 1.9% in Mongolian, Hui, Zhuang and Korean students, respectively. Stepwise Logistic regression showed that the girls, rural students, students aged 12 years and 17 years, Hui, Zhuang and Korean students were more likely to develop anemia than the boys, urban students, students aged 7 years and Mongolian students. The overweight students were less likely to develop anemia compared with the normal students and there was no significant association between anemia and thinness or obesity when the other factors were controlled (P>0.05). Conclusion: The epidemic of anemia was different in the different ethnic minorities and the prevalence of anemia in Hui students was of moderate public health concern according to the WHO’s criteria. We should pay more attention to the prevention and treatment of anemia for Hui and ethnic minorities in rural areas, especially for rural girls. The nutritional status of students could not be a basis or judgement for anemia as there was no significant association between anemia and nutritional status.

Key words: Minority groups, Anemia, Nutritional status, Students