Abstract
Background. COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a period of contingency measures, including total or partial lockdowns all over the world leading to several changes in lifestyle/eating behaviours. This retrospective cohort study aimed at investigating Italian adult population lifestyle changes during COVID-19 pandemic “Phase 1” lockdown (8 March–4 May 2020) and discriminate between positive and negative changes and BMI (body mass index) variations (ΔBMI). Methods. A multiple-choice web-form survey was used to collect retrospective data regarding lifestyle/eating behaviours during “Phase 1” in the Italian adult population. According to changes in lifestyle/eating behaviours, the sample was divided into three classes of changes: “negative change”, “no change”, “positive change”. For each class, correlations with ΔBMI were investigated. Results. Data were collected from 1304 subjects (973F/331M). Mean ΔBMI differed significantly (p < 0.001) between classes, and was significantly related to water intake, alcohol consumption, physical activity, frequency of “craving or snacking between meals”, dessert/sweets consumption at lunch. Conclusions. During “Phase 1”, many people faced several negative changes in lifestyle/eating behaviours with potential negative impact on health. These findings highlight that pandemic exacerbates nutritional issues and most efforts need to be done to provide nutrition counselling and public health services to support general population needs.
Highlights
COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a period of contingency measures, including total or partial lockdowns all over the world, with different modalities according to the countries
The median value of the lifestyle habits and eating behaviors total score showed that most of the subjects belonged to the 2nd tertile, meaning substantially that no changes occurred during
The analysis showed that body mass index (BMI) increase (∆BMI > 0) during
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a period of contingency measures, including total or partial lockdowns all over the world, with different modalities according to the countries. In Italy the first lockdown, “Phase 1” (DPCM-GU Serie Generale n.59; 8 March 2020), occurred March 8. This phase has greatly impacted everyday life of all citizens, leading to different adaptive strategies
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
