Selection criteria
| Population | Adults with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis (excluded: patients with isthmic spondylolisthesis, degenerative scoliosis, spinal stenosis with other causes, or those with previous spinal surgery) |
| Intervention | Isolated decompression (any surgical technique) |
| Comparison | Decompression with fusion (instrumented spinal fusion with pedicle screw fixation) |
| Outcomes |
Primary: Oswestry Disability Index (scale 0–100, with higher scores indicating more severe impairment) Low back pain and leg pain (on a visual analogue scale (VAS) of 0–100, with higher scores indicating more pain) Secondary: reoperation rate, complication rate, length of hospital stay, duration of surgery, blood loss during surgery, and quality of life (QoL) |
| Studies | Randomised controlled trials with true randomisation (pseudo-RCTs excluded), any language or location |
RCT, randomised controlled trial.