Objective To investigate the effect of surgical intervention on cognitive function in elderly patients with frontal glioma.Methods A prospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 33 elderly patients with frontal glioma who underwent surgical treatment in Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University. The patients were instructed to complete Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scale and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) cognitive assessment scale before surgery and at 1 week and 3 months after surgery. The independent samples t-test, the paired-samples t-test, and a multivariate regression analysis were used to investigate the change in cognitive function.Results There were no significant reductions in MoCA and MMSE scores at 1 week and 3 months after surgery (P>0.05). Compared with the low-grade glioma group before surgery, the high-grade glioma group had significantly lower MoCA score (15.33±5.723 vs 21.58±6.178, P<0.05) and MMSE score (20.444±5.0028 vs 25.167±4.8245, P<0.05). The recurrent glioma group had significantly lower MoCA and MMSE scores than the first-episode glioma group (MoCA:13.14±4.259 vs 21.69±5.945, P<0.05; MMSE:19.000±4.0415 vs 25.192±4.7835, P<0.05). At 1 week after surgery, there was a significant reduction in delayed recall ability (P<0.05). Delayed recall ability at 3 months after surgery was significantly better than that before surgery and at 1 week after surgery, and computational ability at 3 months after surgery was significantly better than that at 1 week after surgery (P<0.05).Conclusions No deterioration of global cognitive function is observed in patients after surgical treatment. Recurrent and high-grade glioma tend to lead to more severe cognitive impairment. Delayed recall ability and computational ability are improved at 3 months after surgery.