NCT07183098

Prevalence and Clinical-Economic Aspects of Malnutrition in Rehabilitation

A Prospective Observational Study on the Prevalence of Malnutrition and Clinical-Economic Aspects of the Impact of Specialized Nutritional Care on the 3-month Outcomes of Patients at High Risk of Malnutrition Admitted to a Rehabilitation Hospital

• Status: Completed
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 193 (actual)
• Sponsor: Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi Onlus · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 50 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

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.

Conditions

• Rehabilitation
• Malnutrition

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Participiants at high risk of malnutrition who received standard nutritional care	The overall clinical managment of people by ward's staff includes also nutritional care. Within 24-48 h after hospitalization, the ward's nursing staff screens people for nutritional risk using the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) tool. The attending ward's physician prescribes nutritional support and laboratory analyses in accordance with people's clinical needs and the underlying disease. Ward's physician cllinical judgement guides the decision to reassess and monitor the people's nutritional risk and status.
OTHER	Participiants at high risk of malnutrition who received specialized nutritional care	People referred to the Dietetic and Clinical Nutrition Service (DCNS) receive a structured, evidence-based diagnostic and therapeutic nutritional support. A dietitian performs a dietary assessment and the attending physicians of the DCNS prescribe a baseline set of laboratory analyses relevant for nutritional status. People referred to the DCNS are monitored regularly and systematically, daily or weekly according to the people's clinical condition and nutritional problems.
OTHER	3 month-post discharge evaluation	Three months after discharge (follow-up), participiants of both groups were monitored through telephone interview to collect data regarding rate of hospital readmission, number of emergency department admissions, general practitioner visits, outpatient visits, diagnostic tests, daily medication use and survival.

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-04-15
• Primary completion: 2022-12-31
• Completion: 2022-12-31
• First posted: 2025-09-19
• Last updated: 2025-09-19

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Italy