Board decision network

Free VA Secondary Conditions Finder

Find secondary VA disabilities backed by historical precedent.

More about this data

This 100% free interactive tool analyzes 1.9 million published Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions covering 1992 to 2026, and 4.1 million+ issue results inside them. Combined with curated data, this map reveals the statistical links between your service-connected disabilities and possible secondary condition claims.

A line means the connection was claimed and decided at the Board. It does not mean one condition causes the other. Hover a line to see what the Board actually found. Grant rates on this page are a share of decided appeals, which means granted plus denied. Remands, where the Board sent a case back without deciding it, are not counted.

What does the body-system filter do?

A body-system filter shows every connection that involves that system. The condition on the other end of a connection often belongs to a different system, which is the point: secondary claims cross body systems constantly.

Loading network data...

Line color shows the grant rate in BVA decisions for that secondary claim (descriptive, not a prediction of your claim): 50% or more granted 30 to 49% granted Under 30% granted Fewer than 20 decisions, too few to state a grant rate. These are curated pairings, which stay on the map whatever the minimum is set to Dash-dot: worsening is a live path here, a third or more of the Board's grants for this pair found that one condition made the other worse rather than caused it. Worsened means secondary aggravation under 38 CFR 3.310(b) Dotted: more than half of the grants we have read did not go straight from one condition to the other, they ran through something in between (usually weight gain) or needed more than one service-connected condition together (hover a line to see which) When you focus a condition, its neighbors are ringed by direction: Secondary to it (the arrow points here) It is itself secondary to these Claimed both ways (bidirectional)

How To Read The Secondary Condition Map

  • Teal rings: Conditions claimed secondary to your selected disability.
  • Purple rings: Conditions your selected disability is claimed secondary to.
  • Dashed gray rings: Bidirectional conditions linked both ways.

Search Claims Evidence Instantly

  • Hover any condition to spotlight its specific connection lines.
  • Arrow direction points from the primary condition to the secondary claim.
  • Click to lock your view and display both connection lists.
  • Open the diagnostic code page for your nexus evidence.

After you find a pairing

Develop the claim → The Secondary Service Connection Claim Development Flowchart walks through direction, causation vs. aggravation, nexus, and evidence once you've found a possible pairing here. Claiming through a chain? → Causation Chains and the intermediate-step rule: how a condition is claimed secondary to a second condition that traces back to a service-connected one, with worked examples and the Board decisions that granted them. This map vs the graph on a condition page. The full finder compares both directions across every condition. A diagnostic-code page shows only what is claimed secondary to that one code. One page explains the difference.

All 7 secondary-claim visual guides →

These connections show conditions veterans claimed as secondary to one another in published BVA appeals (1992-2026). They are appeal-level outcomes only; many secondaries are granted at the initial claim without ever needing an appeal. Use them as an indication that two conditions may be related, not proof. A connection in some cases does not mean a connection in yours. To claim any condition you still need a current medical diagnosis, an in-service event, and a nexus that ties them together.
Do you need a nexus letter?: Interactive Guide
A plain-English guide covering this topic step by step.
Appeals and Higher-Level Review Visual Guides
A plain-English guide covering this topic step by step.
Rating Protections Visual Guide Library
A plain-English guide covering this topic step by step.
Claim Preparation and Filing Visual Guides
A plain-English guide covering this topic step by step.
Nexus Letter Visual Guide Library
A plain-English guide covering this topic step by step.