BACKGROUND: Thus far, no meta-analysis focusing on the mid- to long-term incidence of adjacent segment disease requiring surgery after cervical total disc replacement and anterior cervical discectomy and fusion has been published yet. This study aimed to compare mid- to long-term rates of symptomatic adjacent-level disease requiring surgery after cervical disc replacement and anterior cervical fusion. METHODS: A meta-analysis was performed, and only randomized controlled trials with a follow-up period of more than 48 months reporting rates of symptomatic adjacent-level disease requiring surgery after cervical total disc replacement and anterior cervical discectomy and fusion were included. RESULTS: The analysis revealed that the overall rate of symptomatic adjacent-level disease requiring surgery in the cervical disc replacement group was significantly lower than that of the anterior cervical fusion group at 48-120 months' follow-up. The subgroup analysis of different follow-up periods also yielded the same results. The rate of symptomatic adjacent-level disease requiring surgery in the cervical disc replacement group using unrestricted prosthesis was significantly lower than that of the anterior cervical fusion group (p < 0.001); however, the cervical disc replacement group using semi-restricted prosthesis showed no statistical difference compared with the fusion group. CONCLUSIONS: Our review suggests that cervical disc replacement is preferable to anterior cervical fusion in reducing the incidence of symptomatic adjacent-level disease requiring surgery at mid- to long-term follow-up. A review of the literature also demonstrated that randomized controlled trials investigating the rate of symptomatic adjacent-level disease requiring surgery were insufficient; therefore, studies focusing on this subject with longer-term follow-up are warranted.