Occupational stress and BMI based weight status of daily wage workers in small scale industries of Bhubaneswar Odisha

Small-scale industry daily wage workers often experience job insecurity, economic pressures and poor working conditions, leading to occupational stress and poor nutrition. Data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) (2019–21) show that 21% of women and 15% of men in Odisha have a body mass index (BMI) below 18.5 kg/m², suggesting that undernutrition is a major public health problem. These two problems call for workplace nursing interventions. But few studies have examined the association between occupational stress and body mass index (BMI)-based weight status among Odisha’s daily wage workers. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using a multistage sampling technique (convenience sampling of industries and simple random sampling of individuals) among 300 daily wage workers in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, from June to July 2022. The 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), a structured questionnaire, and anthropometric measurements to calculate body mass index (BMI) were used to collect data. For statistical analysis, descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, Spearman’s correlation, and binary logistic regression were calculated using SPSS 20.0, with p < 0.05 considered the level of significance. The results showed a substantial number of the participants had moderate to high stress, with an average stress score of 20.2 ± 5.96. The mean BMI was 21.1 ± 3.41 kg/m². Underweight 26.3% and overweight/obese 13.7% evident that malnutrition is a double burden. There was a negative, non-significant association between stress and BMI ( r = -0.06, p = 0.28). Stress was significantly related with some sociodemographic factors. This study demonstrates the need for population health measures in the workplace. Occupational health nurses can assist with stress screening, nutritional counselling and health checks to promote health.