VA Disability Condition Guides

Every condition the VA rates has its own diagnostic code under 38 CFR Part 4, and the rating criteria for each code are surprisingly specific. The difference between a 30% and a 50% rating for the same condition is usually not severity in general — it is whether you meet a particular bullet in the rating schedule (a frequency, a measurement, a documented functional limitation). The guides on this page walk through the actual criteria the VA rater is reading when they decide your claim, so you can see exactly what evidence and language move the needle.

The most-claimed conditions among veterans, in rough order of frequency, are tinnitus (which has a flat 10% maximum but is one of the most consistently granted), hearing loss (rated by audiogram results under DC 6100), PTSD (DC 9411, with the same general formula as anxiety and depression), back pain and other musculoskeletal conditions (rated by range of motion and functional loss), and sleep apnea (DC 6847, often filed as a secondary to PTSD or weight gain from prescribed medications). Each guide includes the diagnostic code, the controlling CFR section, every rating tier with its specific criteria, the evidence the VA expects, and what to say (and not say) at the C&P exam.

Two patterns are worth understanding before you read individual guides. First, conditions in the same body system are usually rated under the same general formula — all mental health conditions share one formula, all spine conditions share another — so rating PTSD also tells you a lot about how anxiety or depression would be rated. Second, the highest leverage move for many veterans is not increasing an existing rating but adding secondary service-connected conditions you have not yet claimed: sleep apnea secondary to PTSD, GERD secondary to medications, radiculopathy secondary to back pain, depression secondary to chronic pain. Once you have the conditions you want to claim, the combined rating calculator will show how they stack under VA math.