Prevalence and Clinical-Economic Aspects of Malnutrition in Rehabilitation

Completed

• Conditions: Rehabilitation; Malnutrition

• Registration Number: NCT07183098
• Lead Sponsor: Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi Onlus

Brief Summary

The goal of this observational study is to learn about the clinical and economic aspects of specialized nutritional care in participiants at high risk of malnutrition (Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool-MUST equal or higher than 2) admitted to a rehabilitation hospital. The main questions it aim to answer are:

* Does a specialized nutritional care lower hospital readmission rate at three months post-discharge in participiants at high risk of malnutrition admitted to a rehabilitation hospital?

* Does a specialized nutritional care lower the number of emergency department admissions, number of general practitioner (GP) and outpatient visits, number of diagnostic tests and daily medication use and mortality rate in participiants at high risk of malnutrition admitted to a rehabilitation hospital?

Participiants at high risk of malnutrition, three months after discharge were monitored through telephone interview about the hospital readmission and mortality rate, the number of emergency department admissions, GP and outpatient visits, diagnostic tests and daily medication use for treatment burden.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2018-04-15
• Primary Completion: 2022-12-31
• Study Completion: 2022-12-31
• Status Verified: 2025-09
• Study First Submitted: 2025-09-09
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-09-18
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-09-18
• Study First Posted: 2025-09-19
• Last Update Posted: 2025-09-19

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 193

Inclusion Criteria

• Admission to the rehabilitation hospital IRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, Florence
• high risk of malnutrition (Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool-MUST equal or higher than 2)

Exclusion Criteria

• age under 50 years;
• oncological diagnosis associated with a poor six-month prognosis and/or with advanced or irreversible cachexia;
• end-stage renal disease (dialysis);
• people already participating in a cardiac rehabilitation program at the time of enrollment;
• people with severe acquired brain injuries admitted for neurological rehabilitation.

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Hospital readmissions rate	90 days post discharge	The rate of hospital readmissions at three months post-discharge was computed as number of hospital readmissions from discharge to three-month follow-up.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
General practitioner visits rate	90 days post-discharge	General practitioner visits rate was computed as the number of general practitioner visits from discharge to three-month follow-up
Emergency department admissions rate	90 days post-discharge	The rate of emergency department admissions was computed as the number of emergency department admissions from discharge to three-month follow-up.
Outpatient visits rate	90 days post-discharge	The outpatient visits rate was computed as the number of outpatient visits from discharge to three-month follow-up
Daily medication rate	90 days post-discharge	Daily medication rate is the number of drugs/day computed from discharge to three-month follow-up
Diagnostic tests rate	90 days post-discharge	The diagnostic tests rate was computed as the number of diagnostic tests performed from discharge to three-month follow-up
Mortality rate	90 days post-discharge	Mortality rate was computed as the number of participiants dead from discharge to three-month follow-up

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi; 🇮🇹 Florence, Italy