Dietary and Lifestyle Habits During the First Lockdown Declared in a Western Country: Results of the Survey Conducted on Vo’ Residents, Italy

OBJECTIVES: The first case of COVID-19 in Europe was detected on 21 February 2020 in a resident of Vo’, a small town in the province of Padova, Italy, of less than 4000 inhabitants. Consequently, for the first time in a Western country, a lockdown was declared for the village of Vo’ residents to contain the virus spread. The present work aimed at understanding if containment measures affect the dietary and lifestyle habits of Vo’ residents. METHODS: A survey was done. Questionnaires were mailed to all Vo’ residents asking about socio-demographic characteristics, dietary and lifestyle habits before and during the lockdown. Descriptive statistics were reported as I quartile/median/III quartile for continuous variables and percentages (absolute numbers) for categorical variables. RESULTS: The survey respondents were 588. The female gender was the most prevalent (53%), and the most represented age group was the 66–75 (22%), followed by the 56–65 (19%) and the 46–55 (17%). Among survey respondents, 90% spent the lockdown at home with the family. Interestingly, no changes were detected in lifestyle habits and the consumption of all food groups in 90% of subjects compared to before the lockdown. CONCLUSIONS: Even though several studies have already presented data about dietary and lifestyle habits of the population during the lockdown, that of Vo’ residents represent the first experience of COVID-19 containment measures in a Western country. Interestingly, no changes in dietary habits were detected. One possible explanation is that about one-third of respondents were above 45 years of age. It is known from literature that young people are most affected by the potential side effect of lockdown in terms of dietary and lifestyle habits changes. FUNDING SOURCES: None.