The ageing population and the resulting increase in chronic diseases, including dementia, make the evaluation of their emergent needs a crucial step in psychogeriatric care. Unmet needs are found to be important clinical targets that should be followed by active management in order to improve health status and survival.

To analyze the relation between unmet needs and cognition, and explore the nature of these needs across dementia severity stages.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in three nursing homes. Residents were excluded if they were terminally ill, unresponsive or presented delirium. All participants were assessed by Mini-Mental State Examination/MMSE (cognition) and Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly/CANE (needs). Additionally, cognitive decline was staged as: absent (MMSE = 30), questionable (26–29), mild (21–25), moderate (11–20) and severe (≤ 10).

The study included 175 elderly with a mean age of 80.6 (SD = 10.1) years, of which 58.7% presented cognitive decline. For these, the mean number of unmet needs was greater than for those without (4 vs 3, P < 0.001), and they differed significantly in the domains of daytime activities (P < 0.001), memory (P < 0.001) and psychotic symptoms (P = 0.005). A significant negative correlation was found between MMSE and number of unmet needs (rs = −0.369, P < 0.001). Considering the severity stages, unmet needs also differed: more needs in early stages in daytime activities (73.3%), and in advanced ones in memory (63.9%) and psychotic symptoms (23%).

Greater cognitive decline was related with more unmet needs, which agree with previous studies. The different nature of needs across severity stages also suggests that interventions should be tailored comprising this specificity and complexity, when effective care is planned.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.