The study aimed to characterize the elderly residents in long-stay nursing homes (HHs) according to gender, age, education, cause of admission and length of stay; and to describe their health conditions according to the theory of Basic Human Needs. This was an analytical, observational and cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, conducted with 86 seniors from eight NHs in a city of Triângulo Mineiro, state of Minas Gerais. For data analysis, it was used the descriptive statistics, simple and average frequency and standard deviation. The elderly were predominantly female (70.9 %), 80 years or older (44.2 %) and illiterate (48.8 %). The physiological needs affected were: high blood pressure (30.2 %); cognitive decline (58.7 %) and urinary incontinence (50 %). As psychosocial needs, everyone was dependent to perform the instrumental activities of daily living and 52.3 % have indicative of depression. As for the psicoespiritual needs, 70.9 % did not practice any religion. The basic human needs identified as affected were contributing to a decreased on the quality of life of seniors.
Health of Institutionalized Elderly; Homes for the Aged; Geriatric Assessment; Geriatric Nursing; Needs Assessment