Self-Reports and Caregivers’ Proxy Reports of Unmet Needs of Persons With Dementia: Implications for Both Partners’ Health-Related Quality of Life

•This study examined the extent to which both self-reported and caregiver proxy reported unmet needs in persons with dementia were associated with both partners' self-reported health related quality of life.•Greater self-reported unmet needs in the person with dementia were associated with poor health-related quality of life in the person with dementia and the caregiver. Caregivers report greater unmet needs in persons with dementia than persons with dementia report for themselves.•Self-reports of unmet needs and quality of life from persons with dementia should be collected when possible as these reports add important information for healthcare decision-making and treatment success. This study examined in a large sample of dementia caregiving dyads the associations between both partners’ reports of unmet needs in persons with dementia (PwDs) and both partners’ health-related quality of life (HRQOL). This was a cross-sectional self-report survey of 521 community-dwelling dyads in a pragmatic trial in the Netherlands. The Camberwell Needs Assessment was used to measure PwDs’ unmet needs. Both partners’ self-reported their HRQOL using the EuroQol-5. Controlling for covariates, PwDs’ self-reported greater unmet needs were significantly associated with PwDs’ and caregivers’ lower self-reported HRQOL (actor effect; b = −0.044, β = −0.226, z = −3.588, p