Table 2.

Details on study type of included references

Study type	Number of included references
	Strong recommendations	Weak recommendations	Total
Surgical intervention vs surgical intervention*	16	15	31
Nonsurgical intervention vs nonsurgical control^	17	5	22
Surgical intervention vs nonoperative management+	8	6	14
Nonsurgical intervention vs nonsurgical intervention#	9	3	12

* Studies compare the cost-effectiveness of two surgical interventions; ^{^}studies compare the cost-effectiveness of a nonsurgical intervention with

a nonsurgical standard of care; ⁺studies compare the cost-effectiveness of a surgical intervention with nonoperative management; ^#studies compare the cost-effectiveness of two nonsurgical interventions.