Table 2.

Individual symptom items retained after the exploratory factor analysis and factor loadings.

PASC symptom items	Factor loading
	1	2	3	4	5
Factor 1—cold and flu-like symptoms
Muscle or body aches	0.7	0.02	0	− 0.06	0.04
Bone aches in extremities	0.57	0.08	0.07	− 0.01	− 0.04
Sleeping more than normal	0.54	− 0.03	0.12	0.01	0.17
Cough	0.53	− 0.01	− 0.12	0.09	0.22
Fever or chills	0.51	0.03	− 0.06	0.2	0.13
Joint pain	0.51	0.15	0.15	− 0.06	− 0.07
Inability to exercise or be active	0.48	− 0.06	0.13	− 0.02	0.24
Fatigue	0.46	− 0.06	0.22	0.01	0.23
Headache	0.46	0.01	0.21	0.06	− 0.01
Chills but no fever	0.44	0.07	− 0.03	0.18	− 0.06
Factor 2—change in smell and/or taste
Partial or complete loss of sense of smell	− 0.06	0.97	0.02	0.03	− 0.01
Partial or complete loss of sense of taste	− 0.01	0.94	0.01	0.02	0.03
Changed sense of taste	0.2	0.71	0.05	− 0.07	0.04
Factor 3—dyspnea and chest pain
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing	0.03	0.02	0.86	0.04	0.01
Persistent chest pain or pressure	0.01	0.12	0.72	0.09	− 0.01
Shortness of breath or exhaustion from bending over	0.03	0.21	0.57	− 0.08	0.2
Factor 4—cognitive-visual symptoms
Memory problems	− 0.07	0	0.04	0.93	− 0.02
Confusion	0.05	− 0.05	0.12	0.64	0.15
Difficulty concentrating or focusing	0.08	0.01	0	0.63	0.19
Blurry vision	0.11	0.17	− 0.01	0.54	− 0.11
Dizziness	0.28	0.03	0	0.51	− 0.06
Factor 5—cardiac symptoms
Heart palpitations	− 0.03	0.04	0.06	− 0.02	0.89
Tachycardia	0.08	0.06	− 0.02	− 0.03	0.89
Arrhythmia	− 0.07	0.03	− 0.02	0.13	0.8

N = 2547. The extraction method was principal axis factoring.

Significant values are in [bold].