A new German Charité Jet Lag Scale for jet lag symptoms and application

Travelling across multiple time zones provokes adaptation of endogenous circadian rhythm to the new time zone. Within the context of previous studies, an English-language state-of-health questionnaire, the Columbia Jet Lag Scale, is the only sufficiently validated scale for jet lag and its symptoms. This study presents a new state-of-health questionnaire in German, one intended to achieve standardisation of surveys on jet lag. The questionnaire was applied to define the baseline for the prevalence of jet lag symptoms based on a reference group (n = 36). The jet lag score ascertained was subsequently applied to determine the frequency of jet lag in a group of 53 subjects. Systematic investigation of the frequency of jet lag symptoms had not been previously presented. Among the group of 53 travelling test subjects, 60% demonstrated moderate jet lag symptoms.Practitioner Summary: This introduction of the Charité Jet Lag Scale, the first German jet lag questionnaire, calls attention to this topic for the first time since a 2000 publication in Ergonomics. Our systematic investigation of jet lag frequency, with the new scale, determined moderate jet lag symptoms among 60% of subjects.

跨时区旅行可诱导机体内源性昼夜节律（endogenous circadian rhythm）适配新时区环境。在既往研究框架下，英语版健康状况调查问卷《哥伦比亚时差量表（Columbia Jet Lag Scale）》是目前唯一经过充分验证的时差及其相关症状评估工具。本研究开发了一款德语版全新健康状况调查问卷，旨在实现时差相关调研的标准化。研究以参考组（n=36）为受试对象，通过该量表明确了时差症状患病率的基线水平；随后利用测得的时差评分，对53名受试者的时差发生频率进行了评估。此前尚未有针对时差症状发生频率的系统性调研成果发表。在53名旅行受试群体中，60%的受试者表现出中度时差症状。从业者摘要：本研究推出的夏里特时差量表（Charité Jet Lag Scale）是首款德语版时差调查问卷，自2000年《Ergonomics》期刊发表相关研究以来，该主题首次受到学界关注。本研究借助该新量表开展的系统性时差频率调研显示，60%的受试者存在中度时差症状。