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Sleep apnea is frequently claimed as secondary to a service-connected condition such as PTSD, sinusitis, or weight gain from another disability. A medical nexus opinion linking the two is often the deciding factor.
VA rating schedule, diagnostic code 6847
Sleep apnea (often called OSA, for obstructive sleep apnea) is a condition where your breathing keeps stopping and starting while you sleep. The VA treats it as a breathing (respiratory) condition. The VA rates it using its official rating schedule at 38 CFR 4.97 under Diagnostic Code 6847, called "Sleep Apnea Syndromes," which covers the obstructive, central, and mixed types.
Under Diagnostic Code 6847, there are four rating levels, and what moves you to a higher percentage is how severe the breathing problem is and what treatment is medically needed. The levels are: 0% when you have a documented sleep-disordered breathing but no symptoms; 30% for persistent daytime hypersomnolence (ongoing sleepiness during the day); 50% when you require a breathing assistance device such as a CPAP machine; and 100% for chronic respiratory failure with carbon dioxide retention or cor pulmonale (right-side heart strain), or when a tracheostomy is required.
In general, before the VA pays for any condition, the records must connect your sleep apnea to your military service. It is important to know that sleep apnea is NOT on the PACT Act burn-pit presumptive list. That list includes breathing conditions like asthma diagnosed after service, chronic bronchitis, COPD, chronic rhinitis, and chronic sinusitis, but it does not include sleep apnea. So there is no presumptive shortcut that automatically removes the job of linking sleep apnea to service. Veterans instead generally pursue it as directly connected to service, or as secondary to another condition the VA has already service-connected. If a claim is denied, that is a starting point, not the end, because the VA has review and appeal steps.
This is educational information about how the VA's rules work in general; it is not legal advice and it is not a VA decision about your claim.
Grounded in federal regulations and VA guidance, independently reviewed June 2026. Educational information, not legal advice or a VA determination.
Across 80,683 real Board appeals for Sleep apnea
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 Sleep apnea was linked to service:
In appeals where Sleep apnea 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 Veteran's claims for service connection for chronic fatigue syndrome, IBS with GERD, and OSA were denied. The claim for OSA was granted due to the receipt of new evidence showing a current disability.
The Veteran's chronic headaches are granted as secondary to his service-connected allergic rhinitis. The left and right knee disabilities, sinusitis, tinea pedis, and sleep apnea are denied.
The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis, finding that it is related to his in-service injury. The claimant did not contest this decision.
The Board has determined that the Veteran's obstructive sleep apnea arose during active service and granted service connection for this condition.
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea, finding that it is related to his in-service exposure to organic solvents. The decision is based on a March 2026 private medical opinion and the Veteran's credible testimony.
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea as secondary to his service-connected PTSD.
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 Sleep apnea often look at outcomes for these too:
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.