Fig. 2.

Difference in quality-adjusted life-years (ΔQALYs) for surgery versus nonoperative care among simulated patients undergoing anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) (Fig. 2-A), cervical disc arthroplasty (ADR) (Fig. 2-B), cervical laminoplasty (LAMP) (Fig. 2-C), or posterior cervical decompression and instrumented fusion (PDIF) (Fig. 2-D). Asterisks indicate that the lower bound of the 95% confidence interval for the estimated ΔQALY was >0 (indicating surgery was superior). The lower bound was >0 only for patients with severe DCM undergoing ACDF at an age of ≤55 years, ADR at an age of ≤60 years, LAMP at an age of ≤50 years, and PDIF at an age of ≤55 years. Whiskers indicate the 95% confidence interval.