The study is designed to estimate cognitive function among Chilean adults ages 60 and above and its life-course determinants. The study instrument is modeled after the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP) originally developed by the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) research team in the United States and is similar to the one administered to a subsample of the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS), the Mexican Cognitive Aging Ancillary Study (Mex-Cog).

The Chilean Social Protection Survey (SPS) is a national longitudinal study of adults above age 18 with the first survey wave conducted in 2002 with funding from the Chilean government.  Subsequent survey waves, funded primarily by the Chilean government with supplementary funding from a grant from the National Institute of Aging (NIA) and the Inter-American Development Bank, were conducted in 2004, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015/2016 and 2020/2021. An increasing interest in mental and physical health of  the rapidly-aging Chilean population led the Chilean government to fund a Quality of Life Survey in 2017-18 for 2,523 SPS sample members ages 60 and above (SPS-60+). This survey obtained broad information on mental and physical health and other sociodemographic variables, including reports of ADRD diagnosis and other diseases associated with aging and an abbreviated Mini-Mental exam. The Chile-Cog was carried out in the fall of 2019 with respondents drawn from the SPS-60+ and was supported by funding from the National Institute of Aging (NIA).

The Chile-Cog is a collaborative effort among researchers from the Center of Surveys and Longitudinal Studies, the Catholic University of Chile; the Population Aging Research Center, University of Pennsylvania; and the Subsecretaría de Prevision Social, the Chilean public institution that funds the SPS.