Conclusions
We demonstrated a decrease in the rate of PTB after implementation of measures for COVID-19 mitigation in Italy, without an increase in stillbirths. Our results are in line with those obtained in other developed countries and, above all, in many European countries, where both COVID 19 restrictions and women lifestyle are more similar to those in Italy.
Finally, a lesson to be learned from the decrease in PTB rate seen in many countries during the pandemic is the possible importance of lifestyle and environmental aspects related to the occurrence of pregnancies ending preterm. The pandemic period and its restriction measures could therefore represent a large “natural experiment” to explore the prevention of preterm birth, one of the most important goals encouraged by WHO.26