Problem: There are scarce literature about the health conditions of Brazilian population which focus on race/colour or ethnicity. Objective: to identify nursing research literature related to race/colour/ethnicithy. Methodology: exploratory research at the Brazilian computarized nursing data base. Results: the references founded were colour (15), race (03), racism (17), and so fourth. Conclusion: The ethics directions of the National Council of Health, published in 1996, contribute to the inclusion of race/colour/ethnicity in the nursing research papers, but it still not a main category of analysis.