Body system: Digestive SystemRegulation: 38 CFR § 4.114
Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition where eating gluten (found in wheat, barley, and rye) damages your small intestine, leading to poor absorption of nutrients. The VA rates celiac disease from 30% to 80% based on how severe your malabsorption syndrome is and what symptoms you're experiencing. Higher ratings go to veterans with significant weight loss, nutritional deficiencies, and systemic problems like anemia, skin issues, and weakness that interfere with daily activities.
Rating levels
- 80% — Your celiac disease severely affects your ability to absorb nutrients from food, causing significant weakness that makes it hard to perform basic daily activities like bathing, dressing, or cooking. You experience substantial weight loss and muscle wasting, along with multiple body-wide symptoms such as persistent fatigue, skin problems (dermatitis), swollen lymph nodes, low calcium levels (hypocalcemia), vitamin deficiencies, and anemia (low red blood cell count). You also have frequent episodes of severe abdominal pain and diarrhea caused by your body's inability to properly digest lactose (milk sugar) or produce adequate digestive enzymes from your pancreas.
- 50% — You have celiac disease that causes your body to poorly absorb nutrients from food, resulting in chronic diarrhea that requires you to follow a strict medically-prescribed gluten-free diet. Your condition also causes nutritional deficiencies from your body not producing enough lactase (enzyme that breaks down milk sugar) and pancreatic enzymes, plus you experience body-wide symptoms like persistent weakness and fatigue, skin problems, swollen lymph nodes, low calcium levels, vitamin deficiencies, or damage to your intestinal lining confirmed by biopsy.
- 30% — You have celiac disease that causes your body to have trouble absorbing nutrients from food (malabsorption syndrome), leading to ongoing diarrhea that you manage by following a strict gluten-free diet prescribed by your doctor. Your condition is controlled well enough through diet that you don't have serious nutritional deficiencies, but you still experience chronic digestive symptoms that require medical dietary management.