Context: Children with COVID-19 present with less severe disease and require fewer hospitalizations than adults. Our previous study on children with renal disease and COVID-19, which included predominantly children with nephrotic syndrome, found anemia in a significant number of participants. Aims: This study aimed at evaluating the risk factors of anemia in children with nephrotic syndrome presenting with COVID-19 and the influence of anemia on hospital outcome. Methods: This case–control study was conducted at five pediatric nephrology centers in two major cities of Bangladesh. Consecutive patients with nephrotic syndrome and positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 were included as cases, and subsequently, two cases of nephrotic syndrome with negative PCR were enrolled as controls. Participants who presented between April 2020 and December 2020 were included, and demographic data, clinical features, and laboratory parameters were retrieved from hospital records for analysis. Results: A total of 22 children with nephrotic syndrome were positive with COVID-19 and subsequently, 44 children were included as control. The median age was 6.4 years in the cases and 5.2 years among the control. Most children presented with the initial episode of nephrotic syndrome. The children in the case group had a significantly lower hemoglobin level than the controls, and anemia was associated with raised inflammatory markers. In multivariate analysis, female sex and impaired renal function was associated with lower hemoglobin, but anemia did not have effect on hospital outcome. Conclusions: Anemia in children can be multifactorial. Anemia in nephrotic syndrome associated with COVID-19 does not appear to influence length of hospital stay and outcome.

Background: Fractional excretion of magnesium (FEMg) is found to be the most sensitive index among fractional excretion of solutes to detect tubular damage in glomerulonephritis, although fractional excretion of sodium (FENa) is used to detect renal tubular dysfunction in perinatal asphyxia till date. Aim and Objective: The aim of this article is to assess the diagnostic performance of FENa and FEMg as renal function test in asphyxiated newborns. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 asphyxiated newborns in Dhaka Shishu (Children) Hospital, Bangladesh, over 1 year. Serum and urine creatinine, sodium, and magnesium were assessed in each patient; FENa and FEMg were calculated. Serum creatinine was regarded as gold standard for renal function. Results: FENa had 63.64% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 100% positive predictive value, 90.70% negative predictive value, and 92% accuracy. FEMg had 100% sensitivity, 66.67% specificity, 45.83% positive predictive value, 100% negative predictive value, and 74% accuracy. Receiver-operating characteristic curve revealed that area under the curve for FENa was 0.990 and for FEMg was 0.833. So, area under the curve for FENa was more than that of FEMg. Conclusion: FENa is better than FEMg in the assessment of renal function of asphyxiated newborns.