Beriberi (DC 6314)

Rating levels

• 100% — The VA gives this rating when you have active beriberi disease that has caused serious complications affecting your heart or brain. You must have congestive heart failure (when your heart can't pump blood effectively), anasarca (severe swelling throughout your entire body), or Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (a brain disorder that causes confusion, memory problems, and difficulty with coordination and eye movements).
• 60% — You qualify for this rating if you have active beriberi disease along with an enlarged heart (cardiomegaly), or if you have nerve damage in your arms or legs (peripheral neuropathy) that causes your foot to drop when you try to lift it (footdrop) or causes the muscles in your thigh or calf to waste away (atrophy). The disease must be currently active and causing these serious complications to your heart or nervous system.
• 30% — To qualify for this rating level, you must have active beriberi disease along with nerve damage in your arms or legs that causes missing reflexes at your knee or ankle and numbness, OR you must have symptoms like weakness, fatigue, loss of appetite, dizziness, heavy or stiff feeling in your legs, headaches, or trouble sleeping. The peripheral neuropathy mentioned refers to damage to the nerves outside your brain and spinal cord, which affects feeling and reflexes in your limbs.
• -1% — Once the active beriberi disease has resolved, DC 6314 itself no longer provides a rating. Instead, the VA rates any lasting damage (residuals) SEPARATELY under whichever body-system code best captures the deficit: residual heart damage under DC 7000 (rheumatic heart disease) or other cardiovascular codes, residual peripheral neuropathy under 38 CFR § 4.124a (peripheral nerves), residual Wernicke-Korsakoff or other neurological damage under § 4.124a or § 4.130 (mental disorders), and any other lasting deficit under the matching body-system code. Multiple residual ratings are combined under § 4.25.