This study was carried out to analyze and compare the occupational factors that could influence changes in body mass index (BMI) in male manual workers stratified into short-term and long-term work experience groups.

The subjects were 299 male manual workers (sampled systematically) from 27 workplaces, who had undergone travelling medical examinations at a university hospital between March 28 and May 10, 2013, and had also undergone medical examinations at the same hospital in 2012. Their general and occupational characteristics were investigated through a structured, self-administered questionnaire. The BMI at each point in time was calculated based on the anthropometric results of the medical examinations. Multiple regression analyses were conducted on outcomes of the BMI change and predictors composed of the general and occupational characteristics, with the subjects stratified into groups with 5 years or less (short-term) versus more than 5 years (long-term) of work experience at the present post.

In the short-term work experience group, the BMI increases of 3-shift workers and groups reporting disagreement with feeling “insufficient job control” and “lack of reward” at work, two of the subscales of job stress, were significantly higher than those of daytime workers and high-stress groups, respectively. In the long-term work experience group, However, although the BMI increase for 3-shift workers was also significantly higher than that of daytime workers, none of the job stress factors were significantly associated with a BMI increase, whereas the social factors of education and marital status were significant, and some lifestyle factors (such as smoking and regular exercise) were also significant.

This study showed that, except for 3-shift work, the factors associated with BMI increase could differ depending on the length of job experience. Consequently, different strategies may be needed for workers with short-term versus long-term job experience when designing interventions for preventing their obesity.