BACKGROUND: Many studies have suggested that one possible etiology of mild cognitive impairment is small vessel cerebrovascular disease, which is associated with small subcortical infarcts and white matter abnormalities. These white matter changes have been detected as white matter hyperintensity (WMH) using magnetic resonance imaging. WMH may be associated with frontal lobe dysfunction. OBJECTIVE: To examine white matter changes in mild cognitive impairment patients of different subtypes, and to evaluate the correlation between white matter changes and neuropsychological characteristics, demographic information, vascular risk factors, and mild cognitive impairment subtypes. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: The neurophysiological, comparison study was performed at the Department of Neurology Memory Clinic, Ulsan University Hospital, South Korea, between March 2007 and March 2008.PARTICIPANTS: Out of a total of 83 subjects with clinically diagnosed mild cognitive impairment at the out-patient clinic, 3 subjects with severe WMH were excluded. A total of 80 subjects were included in this study. No patients suffered from cognitive impairment induced by neurological diseases, mental disorders, or somatic diseases. In accordance with magnetic resonance imaging results, the patients were assigned to two subtypes: 56 subjects without WMH and 24 subjects with WMH. METHODS: All patients were subjected to a standard neuropsychological battery using the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination, Clinical Dementia Rating, and comprehensive Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery. The Clinical Dementia Rating reflected general cognitive function of patients. Results from the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery reflected attention, language function, visuospatial function, verbal memory, nonverbal memory, long-term memory, and frontal/executive function. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to map changes in the brain. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The association between various white matter changes and neuropsychological characteristics, demographic information, vascular risk factors, and mild cognitive impairment subtypes was measured, based primarily on neuropsychological profiles using statistical methods. RESULTS: WMH was significantly associated with neuropsychological characteristics in MCI patients (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01), in particular with frontal/executive dysfunction. WMH was significantly correlated with age (P=0.022) and vascular risk factors (P=0.006), independent of gender and MCI subtypes. CONCLUSION: WMH was significantly associated with frontal/executive dysfunction in mild cognitive impairment.