Table 3. Univariable analyses of risk factors of the HLQ subscales 6–9.

Variable	Scale 6a		Scale 7b		Scale 8c		Scale 9d
	r	P	r	p	r	p	r	p
Age#	-0.044	0.679	-0.014	0.895	-0.144	0.179	-0.115	0.282
Gender*	0.040	0.712	0.185	0.083	0.056	0.599	0.157	0.141
Education#	0.131	0.222	0.001	0.994	0.207	0.051	0.223	0.036
Married*	0.174	0.104	0.157	0.142	0.134	0.212	0.041	0.702
Children*	0.081	0.450	0.066	0.540	0.127	0.236	0.109	0.309
Born outside of Germany*	0.172	0.107	0.133	0.213	0.041	0.705	0.144	0.179
Unemployed/Retired/disabled*	-0.067	0.533	0.103	0.335	-0.039	0.719	-0.092	0.392
Active Smoking*	-0.100	0.351	0.004	0.968	-0.001	0.989	-0.110	0.305
History of falls*	-0.104	0.330	-0.168	0.117	-0.225	0.034	-0.255	0.016
Alcoholic cirrhosis*	-0.075	0.484	-0.033	0.759	-0.012	0.913	0.100	0.351
MELD#	-0.119	0.267	-0.133	0.212	-0.205	0.054	-0.217	0.041
Ascites at study inclusion*	-0.178	0.096	-0.243	0.022	-0.155	0.146	-0.194	0.068
History of ascites*	-0.180	0.092	-0.116	0.280	-0.098	0.363	-0.145	0.175
History of OHE*	-0.029	0.790	0.008	0.942	0.009	0.932	-0.110	0.304
Varices*	-0.175	0.101	-0.038	0.726	-0.016	0.885	-0.105	0.327
CHE*	-0.197	0.077	-0.197	0.076	-0.202	0.069	-0.239	0.030
TIPSS*	-0.074	0.489	-0.040	0.711	-0.140	0.191	-0.004	0.970
Sodium#	-0.016	0.879	0.118	0.272	0.081	0.448	0.001	0.995
Albumin#	0.133	0.212	0.176	0.099	0.104	0.333	0.149	0.163
Thrombocytes#	0.081	0.450	0.088	0.410	0.077	0.471	0.159	0.136
HDRS#	-0.328	0.002	-0.271	0.011	-0.194	0.070	-0.121	0.260

HDRS: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale; HLQ: Health literacy questionnaire; MELD: Model for end-stage liver disease; CHE: Covert hepatic encephalopathy; TIPPS: Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt; OHE: Overt hepatic encephalopathy

^#Spearman’s rank correlation;

*point-biserial correlation

Coding for gender: 0 male, 1 female.

^aAbility to actively engage with healthcare providers (AE) (5 items),

^bNavigating the healthcare system (NHS) (6 items),

^cAbility to find good health information (FHI) (5 items),

^dUnderstanding health information well enough to know what to do (UHI) (5 items).