Body system: Respiratory SystemRegulation: 38 CFR § 4.97DBQ: DBQ RESP Respiratory Conditions (Other than Tuberculosis and Sleep Apnea)
COPD is a lung disease that makes it hard to breathe, often caused by smoking or exposure to harmful particles and gases during service. The VA rates COPD from 10% to 100% based on lung function tests that measure how well your lungs work. Higher ratings mean your lungs are working worse - a 100% rating means you need oxygen therapy or have severe breathing problems, while a 10% rating means mild breathing limitations.
Rating levels
- 100% — You qualify for this rating if your lung function tests show your breathing capacity is severely reduced to less than 40% of what's expected for someone your age and size, or if your maximum exercise ability is extremely limited (less than 15 ml/kg/min oxygen consumption). You also qualify if you have serious heart complications from your lung disease like right heart failure, an enlarged right side of your heart, or high blood pressure in your lungs, or if you've had episodes where you couldn't breathe well enough and needed emergency treatment (acute respiratory failure). Additionally, if you need to use oxygen therapy at home or as an outpatient, you meet the criteria for this rating level.
- 60% — Your breathing tests must show that your lungs are working at only 40-55% of what they should be for someone your age and size. This includes tests that measure how much air you can blow out in one second (FEV-1), what percentage of your total lung capacity you can exhale quickly (FEV-1/FVC ratio), how well oxygen moves from your lungs into your blood (DLCO), or how much oxygen your body can use during exercise (maximum oxygen consumption). At this level, your chronic bronchitis significantly limits your breathing capacity to about half of normal function.
- 30% — Your lung function tests must show that you're breathing at 56-70% of what's expected for someone your age and size. This is measured through breathing tests where you blow into a machine that checks how much air you can push out of your lungs in one second (FEV-1), what percentage of your total lung capacity you can exhale quickly (FEV-1/FVC ratio), or how well your lungs transfer oxygen into your blood (DLCO test). At this level, your chronic bronchitis significantly limits your breathing capacity but you still retain more than half of normal lung function.
- 10% — To qualify for this rating level, your lung function tests must show mild impairment in one of three key measurements. Either your FEV-1 (the amount of air you can forcefully exhale in one second) is 71-80% of what's expected for someone your age and size, or your FEV-1/FVC ratio (how much air you can blow out compared to your total lung capacity) is 71-80%, or your DLCO test (which measures how well oxygen moves from your lungs into your blood) shows 66-80% of normal function.