Objectives To examine whether or not there is a relationship between job stress change and weight gain in white collar male workers.

Methods Total 277 male workers who had worked in a Korean R&D company which make cellular phone between 2008 and 2010 were enrolled in this study. Baseline and follow-up data were collected with structured self-administered questionnaires and laboratory tests. The questionnaire survey included general characteristics, work related characteristics and the Korean Occupational Stress Scale-Short Form (KOSS-SF). Multiple logistic regression modeling was used to determine an association between job stress change and weight gain.

Results We found that increased job stress was associated with weight gain. After adjustment for confounding variables such as age, gender, calorie intake and etc, the logistic regression analyses revealed that the groups with more job stress change were more likely to gain weight than groups with lesser job stress changes.

Conclusions These results indicate that increased job stress is significantly attributed to weight gain. We revealed the importance of job stress control for workplace health promotion.