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Hypertension is rated on blood-pressure readings and may be claimed as secondary to other conditions. For certain herbicide-exposed veterans it has been recognized as presumptive.
VA rating schedule, diagnostic code 7101
Hypertension means high blood pressure. The VA rates it under its cardiovascular rules in 38 CFR 4.104, using Diagnostic Code 7101, called "hypertensive vascular disease (hypertension and isolated systolic hypertension)." Under the rules, hypertension generally means the diastolic (bottom number) is predominantly 90 or more, and isolated systolic hypertension means the systolic (top number) is predominantly 160 or more with a diastolic under 90. The VA also requires that the high readings be confirmed by readings taken two or more times on at least three different days, and it looks at your pattern of readings over time (the word "predominantly"), not a single visit.
The percentage rating is driven by your blood pressure numbers and whether you need daily medication. The VA's schedule assigns 10% when diastolic pressure is predominantly 100 or more, or systolic is predominantly 160 or more, or as the minimum rating for someone with a history of diastolic pressure predominantly 100 or more who needs continuous medication to control it. It assigns 20% for diastolic predominantly 110 or more (or systolic predominantly 200 or more), 40% for diastolic predominantly 120 or more, and 60% for diastolic predominantly 130 or more, which is the highest level on this code. Because the code itself accounts for medication, being controlled by daily pills does not by itself bar a 10% minimum when there is the required history.
There are pathways that can ease the "nexus" (link-to-service) burden. As a chronic cardiovascular-renal disease, hypertension can be presumptively service-connected if it appears to a compensable (at least 10%) degree within one year of qualifying service, under 38 CFR 3.307 and 3.309(a). Separately, the 2022 PACT Act added hypertension as a disease associated with exposure to certain herbicide agents such as Agent Orange, so veterans with qualifying herbicide-exposure service may be considered under the herbicide presumption rather than having to prove a direct medical link. Note that hypertension is treated separately from heart disease and is not itself counted as "ischemic heart disease" under the VA's rules.
This is general educational information about how the VA's rules work, not legal advice or a VA decision about your individual claim.
Grounded in federal regulations and VA guidance, independently reviewed June 2026. Educational information, not legal advice or a VA determination.
Across 66,094 real Board appeals for Hypertension (high blood pressure)
A denial is often not the end either — remands (shown below) are sent back for more development and can still end in a grant. These are historical outcomes, not a prediction of your case.
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Among the appeals that were granted or partly granted, the most common ways Hypertension (high blood pressure) was linked to service:
In appeals where Hypertension (high blood pressure) was the only condition decided and the Board granted it, the rating most often assigned was:
These appeals involved a recognized exposure — which can mean the link to service is presumed, with no nexus to prove:
The Board has granted service connection for left lower extremity radiculopathy and denied the claims for right knee disability, erectile dysfunction, GERD, sleep apnea, and hypertension. The decision is remanded for further action on these issues.
The Board has determined that the evidence is in equipoise as to whether the Veteran's service-connected hypertension contributed to his cause of death, and therefore grants service connection for the cause of death.
The Veteran's hypertension is granted as service-connected due to presumed exposure to herbicide agents during his active duty in the Republic of Vietnam.
The Board has restored the Veteran's 10% rating for hypertension effective December 1, 2025 and denied a rating in excess of 10%. The reduction from 10% to noncompensable was not proper.
The Veteran's residuals of papillary carcinoma, thyroid, status post total thyroidectomy is granted as service-connected.,The Veteran's hypothyroidism is granted as service-connected due to the presumed exposure to herbicide agents during service.
The Veteran's TDIU claim is granted with an effective date of August 10, 2022, the date service connection for hypertension was granted. The Board found that the Veteran met both the economic and noneconomic components required for a TDIU due to his service-connected disabilities.
Jump to the decisions from a specific year.
New decisions are added every week, and older years are actively being backfilled — a year that looks thin or missing here (especially 2011–2017) is a gap in our library, not in the Board’s decisions.
Veterans appealing Hypertension (high blood pressure) often look at outcomes for these too:
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