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Abstract Background Previous studies suggest that poor sleep quality or abnormal sleep duration may be associated with frailty. Here we test the associations of sleep disturbances with both frailty and pre-frailty in an elderly population. Methods Participants included 1726 community-dwelling elders aged 70–87 years. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to assess sleep disturbances. Frailty was defined using phenotype criteria. Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratio of the associations. Results The average PSQI score was 5.4 (SD, 3.1). Overall 43.6% of the participants had poor sleep quality (PSQI> 5), 8.2% had night sleep time ≤ 5 h, and 27.8% had night sleep time ≥ 9 h. The prevalence of frailty and pre-frailty was 9.2 and 52.8%, respectively. The proportions of PSQI> 5 increased with the severity of frailty status (robust: pre-frail: frail, 34.5%: 48%: 56.1%, P 5) was associated with higher odds of frailty (OR = 1.78, 95% CI 1.19–2.66) and pre-frailty (OR = 1.51, 95% CI 1.20–1.90). Sleep latency, sleep disturbance, and daytime dysfunction components of PSQI measurements were also associated with frailty and pre-frailty. In addition, sleep time 9 h/night was associated with higher odds of frailty and pre-frailty. Conclusions We provided preliminary evidences that poor sleep quality and prolonged sleep duration were associated with being frailty and pre-frailty in an elderly population aged 70–87 years. The associations need to be validated in other elderly populations.