The Board found that the evidence does not support service connection for hypertension, as it was not incurred or aggravated during active duty service. The claim is denied.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's essential hypertension was first diagnosed in 2003 and is considered to be of idiopathic (no obvious external cause) nature, which precludes its direct service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- Essential Hypertension
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 21, 2017
- Citation
- 1753320
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 1753320.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a compensable rating for essential hypertension, finding that his systolic pressure was consistently under 160 and diastolic pressure was most commonly under 100 during the review period.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claim for hypertension disability to include high blood pressure, hypertension, or essential hypertension due to insufficient evidence on whether it is related to service. The Veteran's representative argued that his current diagnosis of essential hypertension and a history of elevated BP readings during service may support service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for the Veteran's cause of death and entitlement to Dependency and Indemnity Compensation under 38 USC § 1151 due to inadequate medical opinions.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including osteoarthrosis and essential hypertension, rendered him unable to work as of August 10, 2018. The Board granted a total disability evaluation based on individual unemployability (TDIU) effective December 21, 2018.
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