Frailty and Mild Cognitive Impairment in Southeast Asians: A Cross-Sectional Study on Brain Atrophy Patterns and Cognitive Profiles

Background: Poorer cognition and reduced brain volumes are found to be associated with frailty. We examine the influence of frailty on cognitive and neuroimaging measures in a Southeast Asian cohort of MCI. Methods Using a cross-sectional design, 356 MCI participants completed neuropsychological assessments. We performed a multivariable linear regression comparing pre-frail/frail and non-frail groups on cognitive, behavioural and brain volumes controlling for age and total intracranial volume and a partial correlation of frailty and walking speed on brain volumes. Results Mean age of our cohort was 65.26 ± 9.10, mean education years was 13.36 ± 4.12 and 54.21% were women. The pre-frail/frail group had worse cognition, mild behavioural impairment, mood, physical activity and quality of life ( p  < 0.05). Faster walking speed was associated with greater hippocampal volume ( r  = 0.139, p  = 0.048). Conclusions Frailty is associated with worse cognition and lifestyle outcomes. Walking speed could be a potential biomarker of dementia.