Table 2. GRADE evidence profile: Surgery plus physiotherapy vs physiotherapy alone.
| Quality Assessment | Summary of Findings | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Outcome (No. of studies; design) |
Limitations | Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Publication Bias | Surgery plus Physiotherapy | Physiotherapy alone |
SMD / WMD (95% CI) |
Quality |
| Pain at 3 months (3 RCTs) [10,26,28] |
Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious imprecisions | Unlikely | 138/300 | 162/300 | WMD -0.39 (-1.02–0.23) |
⊕⊕⊕⊝ Moderate |
| Pain at 6 months (3 RCTs) [10,26,28] |
Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious imprecisions | Unlikely | 144/310 | 166/310 | WMD -0.36 (-1.02–0.29) |
⊕⊕⊕⊝ Moderate |
| Pain at 1 year (3 RCTs) [10,26,28] |
Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious imprecisions | Unlikely | 147/317 | 170/317 | WMD -0.67 (-1.23 –-0.11) |
⊕⊕⊕⊝ Moderate |
| Pain at 2 years (2 RCTs) [10, 28] |
Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious imprecisions | Unlikely | 127/261 | 134/261 | WMD -0.67 (-1.23 –-0.12) |
⊕⊕⊕⊝ Moderate |
| Pain at 5 years (1 RCT) [29] |
Serious limitations | N/A | No serious indirectness | Serious imprecisions | Unlikely | 57/109 | 52/109 | WMD -0.30 (-1.54–0.94) |
⊕⊕⊝⊝ Low |
| Pain at 10 years (1 RCT) [31] |
Serious limitations | N/A | No serious indirectness | Serious imprecisions | Unlikely | 44/90 | 46/90 | WMD 1.00 (-0.24–2.24) |
⊕⊕⊝⊝ Low |
| Function at 3 months (2 RCTs) [26,28] |
Serious limitations | Serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | Serious imprecisions | Unlikely | 84/184 | 100/184 | SMD 0.11 (-0.57–0.79) |
⊕⊝⊝⊝ Very low |
| Function at 6 months (3 RCTs) [26,28] |
Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious imprecisions | Unlikely | 144/310 | 166/310 | SMD 0.15 (-0.14–0.43) |
⊕⊕⊕⊝ Moderate |
| Function at 1 year (2 RCTs) [26,28] |
Serious limitations | Serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | Serious imprecisions | Unlikely | 92/197 | 105/197 | SMD 0.11 (-0.46–0.69) |
⊕⊝⊝⊝ Very low |
| Function at 2–2.5 years (3 RCTs) [28,30] |
Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | Serious imprecisions | Unlikely | 146/301 | 155/301 | SMD 0.31 (0.08–0.54) |
⊕⊕⊝⊝ Low |
| Function at 5 years (1 RCT) [29] |
Serious limitations | N/A | No serious indirectness | Serious imprecisions | Unlikely | 57/109 | 52/109 | SMD 0.14 (-0.24–0.51) |
⊕⊕⊝⊝ Low |
| Function at ≥10 years (2 RCTs) [11,31] |
Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | Serious imprecisions | Unlikely | 62/136 | 74/136 | SMD 0.22 (-0.12–0.56) |
⊕⊕⊝⊝ Low |