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Albuminuria predicts cardiovascular and end-stage kidney disease in indigenous populations. Early detection in indigenous children may identify those who could benefit from early treatment. Community-based detection of albuminuria needs to be performed using a reliable, inexpensive, and widely available test, such as a proteinuria dipstick. Dipstick accuracy for detecting albuminuria in a community setting has not been evaluated. We assessed the accuracy of Multistix 10 SG dipsticks to detect baseline albuminuria and predict for persistent albuminuria at a 2-year follow-up in a population-based cohort of Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal elementary-school-aged children. Variability in the accuracy of dipsticks in subgroups of higher risk children was analyzed using the relative diagnostic odds ratio (RDOR). Using Multistix 10 SG dipsticks, index-test-positive cases were defined as ≥0.30 g/L (1+) proteinuria and index-test-negative cases as

Bone marrow transplant nephropathy (BMTN) classically presents more than 100 days after transplantation as an acute nephritis with hypertension, azotaemia and anemia that usually results in end stage renal failure (ESRF). The risk of developing BMTN may be greater with the use of more intensive chemotherapy and higher total body and tumor bed irradiation. Cis-retinoic acid (RA) may further increase the risk of developing BMTN. Here, we report the cases of two children who developed typical clinical and biochemical features of BMTN. They were both treated for stage IV neuroblastoma with chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant (BMT) conditioning that included total body irradiation and RA therapy after BMT, although the patient in case 1 had established renal insufficiency prior to the commencement of RA. Renal biopsy of these children showed classical BMTN histology, and the renal manifestations progressed quickly; the patient in case 1 became dialysis dependent by 1 year post-bone marrow transplant. Recently, RA has been added to the post-BMT therapy in children with stage IV neuroblastoma. The occurrence of BMTN in two children treated with RA in our unit is unlikely to be coincidental. Although RA has been shown to confer a significant survival advantage in this disease, animal studies and a previous case report have suggested it could increase the toxic effects of chemotherapy and renal irradiation. It is likely that RA contributed to the deterioration in renal function in these patients.