## 3 Results  
Three hundred and four patients with a mean age of 73.02 (SD = \(\pm\)13.97) years were included in the study. The demographic, anamnestic, and clinical characteristics of the sample are shown in Table 1. These patients originally came from different hospital wards. The most frequent operative unit of provenance was the orthopedics ward, from which 52.9% of patients came, while 34.9% of patients came from neurological wards. The remaining 12.2% of inpatients came from other hospital operative units, in particular the medical ward, where the patients were medically admitted to an acute care unit and had become debilitated and bedridden by an acute event. Comparing data recorded at baseline (T0) and at discharge (T1), statistically significant changes in mBI, NRS, and HGT (\(p<0.001\)) were detected in the whole sample, in the neurological group, and in the orthopedic group. Moreover, in the other patients that came from other hospital operative units, we found statistically significant changes in mBI (\(p\leq 0.001\)), NRS (\(p=0.002\)), and HGT (\(p=0.001\)) (Table 2). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c} \hline  & **n (\%)/Median (Range)** \\ \hline
**Patients** & & 304 \\ \hline
**Gender** & male vs. female & 135 (44.41) vs. 169 (55.59) \\ \hline
**Age** & years & 75.65 (63.23–83.26) \\ \hline
**BMI** & & 25.33 (23.37–27.68) \\ \hline
**CCI** & & 5 (3–7) \\ \hline
**Days of hospitalization** & & 22 (16–28) \\ \hline \end{tabular} BMI—body mass index; CCI—Charlson comorbidity index.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Characteristics of the sample. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline  & **Baseline** & **Discharge** & **\(p\) Value** \\  & **Median (IQR)** & **Median (IQR)** & **\(p\) Value** \\ \hline
**mBI\_whole sample** & 26 (19–33) & 62 (48–75) & **<0.001** \\ \hline
**mBI\_neurological patients** & 23 (16–33) & 63 (49–75) & **<0.001** \\ \hline
**mBI\_orthopedic patients** & 27 (22–35) & 63 (50–74) & **<0.001** \\ \hline
**mBI\_other patients** & 25 (20–30) & 59 (44–69) & **<0.001** \\ \hline
**NRS\_whole sample** & 2 (0–4) & 0 (0–2) & **<0.001** \\ \hline
**NRS\_neurological patients** & 0 (0–3) & 0 (0–1) & **<0.001** \\ \hline
**NRS\_orthopedic patients** & 2 (1–5) & 0 (0–2) & **<0.001** \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Clinical data values (medians and interquartile ranges) at T0 and T1 and statistical analysis results (T0 vs. T1 evaluation). Analyzing our global sample of patients, we found a positive correlation between \(\Delta\_\)mBI and the change from baseline of the HGT (\(p\) = 0.009, \(\rho\) = 0.168) and a negative correlation between \(\Delta\_\)mBI and CCI (\(p\) < 0.001, \(\rho\) = \(-\)0.310), between \(\Delta\_\)mBI and the number of drugs at baseline (T0) (\(p\) = 0.001, \(\rho\) = \(-\)0.210) and at discharge (T1) (\(p\) < 0.001, \(\rho\) = \(-\)0.396), and finally between \(\Delta\_\)mBI and NRS at T1 (\(p\) = 0.001, \(\rho\) = \(-\)0.214) (Figure 1). Regarding the correlation between \(\Delta\_\)mBI and the blood sample values, we found a positive correlation with Hb (\(p\) = 0.010, \(\rho\) = 0.161), with albumin (\(p\) = 0.001, \(\rho\) = 0.215), with total protein (\(p\) < 0.001, \(\rho\) = 0.228), and a negative correlation with CRP (\(p\) = 0.003, \(\rho\) = \(-\)0.210) (Figure 2). Observing the single groups of our sample, we calculated the medians and interquartile ranges of \(\Delta\_\)mBI: for the orthopedic group, it was 33 (24-44); for the neurological group, it was 38 (28-44); and for the inpatients coming from the other hospital wards, it was 29 (21-38) (Figure 3).