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.
What the criteria ask for at each level
DC 8045 — 38 CFR §4.124a
| Rating | What the record has to show |
|---|---|
| 0–100% | Rated on the HIGHEST level among 10 facets: memory/attention, judgment, social interaction, orientation, motor activity, visual-spatial, subjective symptoms, neurobehavioral effects, communication, consciousness. |
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:
- facets of cognitive impairment
- neurobehavioral effects
- mild / moderate / severe impairment
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.
- 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.
What tbi can lead to8 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.