TBI VA rating
The VA rates tbi under DC 8045, and most ratings land in the 0–100% range. What decides yours is the criteria below and what your record actually documents.
This code covers Traumatic brain injury - TBI) residuals.
What the criteria ask for at each level
DC 8045 - 38 CFR §4.124a
| Rating | What the record has to show |
|---|---|
| 0% | Highest facet at level 0. |
| 10% | Highest facet at level 1. |
| 40% | Highest facet at level 2. This is the jump that matters - one facet moving from level 1 to level 2 takes the rating from 10% to 40%. |
| 70% | Highest facet at level 3. |
| 100% | Any single facet evaluated as "total". |
What the C&P exam actually measures
This exam scores ten separate facets of function, and only the highest one sets the rating. That single rule decides more TBI outcomes than anything else in the file.
- Memory, attention, concentration and executive function, scored as its own facet.
- Judgment, social interaction, orientation, motor activity and visual-spatial orientation, each scored separately.
- Subjective symptoms, neurobehavioral effects, communication and consciousness, completing the ten.
- Each facet is graded 0, 1, 2, 3 or total, and the highest single grade decides the percentage.
- Whether emotional and behavioral difficulty has its own mental health diagnosis, because that is rated under its own code rather than inside this one.
The mapping is steep and uneven. The highest facet at level 1 is 10%. One facet at level 2 is 40%. Ten facets at level 1 is still 10%, so the facet where function is worst is the one the examination has to capture accurately.
Our C&P Prepwalks through what this exam covers, in the schedule's own terms.
Two records, read against the criteria
Two records after similar injuries. What separated them was how one facet was described.
| Outcome | What the record held | How the criteria read it |
|---|---|---|
| Read at 40% | Blast exposure in 2012. Occupational therapy notes describing missed appointments, a written warning for errors traced to forgotten instructions, and a spouse statement describing getting lost driving a familiar route. | Those are concrete, repeated failures in memory, attention and executive function, and they support that facet at level 2. One facet at level 2 sets the rating at 40% under DC 8045. |
| Read at 10% | The same injury year and the same reported complaints. The file records "reports some memory problems" and "mild difficulty concentrating" across several appointments, with no examples and no work or family account. | Complaints without described consequences read as mild rather than as a functional level, and the facet sits at level 1. The highest facet at level 1 is 10%. |
The gap between those two records is 30 percentage points, and it is made of examples rather than symptoms. These are general illustrations of how the criteria are written, not a prediction about any particular claim - only the VA decides that, on your own record.
The schedule's own words
Ratings turn on specific terms, and a record that describes the same reality in different language often reads as a lower rating. These are the words this code measures:
- the TEN facets: memory/attention/concentration/executive function, judgment, social interaction, orientation, motor activity, visual-spatial orientation, subjective symptoms, neurobehavioral effects, communication, consciousness
- only the HIGHEST facet sets the rating - ten facets at level 1 is still 10%, while one facet at level 2 is 40%
- emotional and behavioural dysfunction is rated SEPARATELY under the mental-disorder codes where a diagnosis exists
- physical dysfunction is rated separately under its own codes and combined
Evidence that moves this rating
- Objective cognitive testing (MoCA or neuropsych evaluation)
- Buddy statements on personality/cognition changes
- Documentation of the in-service head injury event
What your statement has to cover
Doctors chart symptoms; they rarely chart consequences. That part is yours, and it is usually what separates a documented rating from a reported one.
- Describe your WORST facet in detail rather than spreading effort evenly. Only the highest one sets the rating, so the facet where you function least well is the one the exam has to capture.
- Give concrete examples per facet: missed appointments, getting lost driving familiar routes, outbursts, word-finding trouble.
- Have someone close describe the before-vs-after you.
Our Statement Builderwalks through the questions that produce that kind of statement, in the schedule's own terms.
Where records for this condition fall short
Where TBI records commonly come up short:
- The injury severity mistaken for the rating
Mild, moderate and severe describe the injury at the time it happened. DC 8045 rates current function, so a mild TBI with real ongoing impairment is not capped by that word.
- Effort spread evenly across all ten facets
Only the highest facet counts. A record that describes every facet as slightly affected produces a level 1 across the board, which is 10%, however many facets it covers.
- Symptoms described without consequences
Memory problems is a symptom. Getting written up twice for missed instructions is a functional level. The facets are graded on the second kind of statement.
- Mental health folded into the TBI notes
Where a separate psychiatric diagnosis exists, it is rated under its own code and combined. Progress notes that blend the two make it harder to show which effects belong where.
What tbi can lead to 8 documented pathways
A secondary claim runs through a condition the VA already accepts, so the argument about your service is already won. What is left is the medical link - and a nexus opinion has to name the mechanism, not just the pair.
| Can lead to | The mechanism a nexus has to state |
|---|---|
| Vertigo / vestibular disorder | TBI residuals disrupt vestibular function and balance processing. |
| Sleep apnea | Brainstem trauma and disrupted sleep architecture cause sleep apnea. |
| Hypothyroidism / thyroid conditions | TBI can damage the pituitary gland, disrupting thyroid regulation. |
| Migraine headaches | Post-traumatic headaches are a nearly universal residual of TBI. |
| Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) | Neurological damage impairs auditory pathways. |
| Depression | TBI damages the brain’s mood-regulation centers. |
| Insomnia | Disruption of the brain’s sleep centers. |
| Erectile dysfunction / FSAD | Pituitary damage can lower testosterone. Qualifies for SMC-K even at 0%. |
A pathway existing in the literature is not the same as your claim being granted - your records and the VA decide that. How secondary claims work covers the argument.
Before you spend money on this claim
VA ratings do not add. Each new rating applies only to the part of you the VA still counts as unimpaired, then rounds to the nearest ten - so from 70%, a new 10% condition leaves you at exactly 70% and changes your payment by nothing.
That does not make the claim worthless; it can still matter for TDIU, for SMC, or later when something else is added. But it is worth knowing before you pay for a nexus letter rather than after. Check what one more condition does at your rating - it takes a minute.