Diabetes VA claims: secondary conditions, Agent Orange and what the Board grants

Where VA presumes the link

Is type II diabetes presumptive for Agent Orange?

Yes. Type II diabetes is on the herbicide list in 38 CFR 3.309(e), so for a veteran with presumed herbicide exposure VA presumes the link to service without a medical opinion. In decisions that mention Agent Orange or other herbicides, the Board granted 42.4% of diabetes claims (3,114 of 7,337), against 20.0% overall.

Granted

All diabetes claims

20.0%

Agent Orange or other herbicides

42.4%

Da Nang, Vietnam

50.1%

Tan Son Nhut, Vietnam

50.0%

Korat, Thailand

72.1%

Udorn, Thailand

73.0%

U-Tapao, Thailand

71.4%

Takhli, Thailand

74.7%

Ubon, Thailand

80.0%

Share of decided claims granted; a remand counts as not granted. One count per veteran. Each row is what the decision mentions; rows overlap, and a mention is not proof of qualifying service.

Does service at a Thai air base count?

Yes. Since the PACT Act took effect in August 2022, VA presumes herbicide exposure for service at any United States or Royal Thai base in Thailand from January 1962 to June 1976, whatever the veteran's job or where on the base they worked (M21-1 VIII.i.1.A). Before that, exposure in Thailand had to be shown on the facts. Decisions that name a Thai air base did best: Udorn 73.0%, U-Tapao 71.4% and Korat 72.1%.

Decisions that name a base in Vietnam came out lower than the Thai bases: Da Nang 50.1% (182 of 363) and Tan Son Nhut 50.0%. The Vietnam claim map linked above follows Vietnam veterans from diabetes to the conditions that came after it.

How VA rates diabetes

How does VA rate diabetes?

Under DC 7913 in 38 CFR 4.119, from 10 percent when it is managed by diet alone to 100 percent. Complications that would be compensable on their own are rated separately unless they are part of the criteria for the highest rating; the others are part of the diabetes rating.

That rule is why the secondary conditions below matter: each one that is compensable on its own adds its own rating.

What follows from diabetes

What conditions can be claimed secondary to diabetes?

Most often nerve damage in the legs (876 of 2,384 granted, 36.7%) and arms (29.5%), hypertension (17.8%) and erectile dysfunction (28.6%). Kidney disease (46.2%), retina disease (43.2%) and peripheral artery disease (43.0%) were granted most often.

Granted

All diabetes claims

20.0%

Kidney disease (nephritis)

46.2%

Peripheral artery disease

43.0%

Retina disease

43.2%

Nerve damage, legs

36.7%

Nerve damage, arms

29.5%

Erectile dysfunction

28.6%

Cataract

23.0%

Sleep apnea

22.2%

Hypertension

17.8%

Glaucoma

11.0%

Share of decided claims granted; a remand counts as not granted. One count per veteran. Secondary claims are the ones the Board marked as secondary to diabetes.

Claimed secondary to diabetes	Granted	Veterans	Share
Nerve damage, legs	876	2,384	36.7%
Nerve damage, arms	495	1,680	29.5%
Hypertension	274	1,539	17.8%
Erectile dysfunction	316	1,105	28.6%
Sleep apnea	165	743	22.2%
Glaucoma	37	335	11.0%
Cataract	70	304	23.0%
Kidney disease (nephritis)	140	303	46.2%
Retina disease	114	264	43.2%
Peripheral artery disease	102	237	43.0%

Kidney, retina and artery claims did best. Sleep apnea and glaucoma did poorly. Hypertension is often claimed this way, but for a herbicide-exposed veteran it has been presumed on its own since the PACT Act.

Diabetes claimed secondary to another condition

Can diabetes be secondary to PTSD?

Yes, under 38 CFR 3.310, with a medical opinion that explains the chain, often PTSD leading to weight gain or inactivity and that to diabetes. PTSD is the condition diabetes is most often claimed secondary to: the Board granted 93 of 403 of those claims (23.1%).

Diabetes claimed secondary to	Granted	Veterans	Share
PTSD	93	403	23.1%
Hypertension	51	335	15.2%
Sleep apnea	73	222	32.9%
Knee condition	44	179	24.6%
A mental health condition (not specified)	30	164	18.3%
Back condition	36	151	23.8%
Depression (major depressive disorder)	16	60	26.7%

Look up your client's group

Every base, exposure, job and medal with at least 15 decided diabetes claims, 188 groups in all; 17 fall under a presumption.

Bases 88Exposures 40Military jobs 40Medals 20

Bar: share of this group's diabetes claims the Board granted. Red line: all diabetes claims, 20.0% granted. A bar past the line won more often than usual.

×

More often than usual: how much more often diabetes comes up in this group's decisions than in all Board decisions. It shows how common the condition is here, not how often it wins.

Set aside

For groups VA does not presume, veterans whose decision shows service VA already presumes for diabetes (for example Vietnam or Thailand for Agent Orange) are left out, because for them the presumption is the answer.

Sort byGrant shareMore often than usualClaims decided

• Camp Friendship

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  80.0% granted · 20 of 25

  7.2×more often

• Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  80.0% granted · 132 of 165

  7.5×more often

• Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  74.7% granted · 168 of 225

  8.1×more often

• Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  73.0% granted · 292 of 400

  8.3×more often

• Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTAFB) in Korat, Thailand

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  72.1% granted · 279 of 387

  7.8×more often

• U-Tapao Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  71.4% granted · 320 of 448

  7.9×more often

• Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  69.6% granted · 135 of 194

  7.7×more often

• Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  68.8% granted · 22 of 32

  8.7×more often

• Vung Tau Air Base

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  65.0% granted · 13 of 20

  6.5×more often

• Camp Samae San

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  56.7% granted · 17 of 30

  10.0×more often

• Da Nang AFB

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  50.1% granted · 182 of 363

  6.2×more often

• Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  50.0% granted · 38 of 76

  7.4×more often

• Cam Ranh Bay Air Base

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  41.5% granted · 34 of 82

  6.2×more often

• Andersen AFB, Guam

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  37.3% granted · 38 of 102

  7.4×more often

• Chu Lai Air Base

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  33.3% granted · 5 of 15

  3.5×more often

• Johnston Atoll

  Presumed by law · 38 CFR 3.309(e)
  21.1% granted · 8 of 38

  2.4×more often

• Fort Bragg
  14.3% granted · 3 of 21 · 26 with presumptive service set aside

  1.0×more often

• Fort Hood
  12.5% granted · 3 of 24 · 30 with presumptive service set aside

  1.3×more often

• Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California
  11.5% granted · 3 of 26 · 39 with presumptive service set aside

  1.6×more often

• Fort Jackson
  10.3% granted · 3 of 29 · 15 with presumptive service set aside

  1.2×more often

• Camp Lejeune
  9.8% granted · 44 of 451 · 176 with presumptive service set aside

  1.9×more often

• Fort Benning
  9.1% granted · 2 of 22 · 29 with presumptive service set aside

  1.3×more often

• Fort Knox
  5.6% granted · 1 of 18 · 36 with presumptive service set aside

  1.9×more often

• Fort McClellan, Alabama
  5.1% granted · 5 of 98 · 242 with presumptive service set aside

  4.4×more often

• Fort Dix, NJ
  4.8% granted · 1 of 21 · 40 with presumptive service set aside

  2.1×more often

• Fort Campbell
  0.0% granted · 0 of 18 · 19 with presumptive service set aside

  1.5×more often

• Fort Polk
  0.0% granted · 0 of 18 · 25 with presumptive service set aside

  1.6×more often

61 more groups: too few claims to judge once veterans with presumptive service are set aside

• USS Kearsarge: 2 of 40 claims left, 38 set aside
• Eglin AFB, Florida: 6 of 61 claims left, 55 set aside
• USS Hornet: 2 of 18 claims left, 16 set aside
• USS Kitty Hawk: 3 of 70 claims left, 67 set aside
• Camp Casey: 5 of 223 claims left, 218 set aside
• Fort Lee, Virginia: 10 of 19 claims left, 9 set aside
• USS Forrestal: 5 of 27 claims left, 22 set aside
• Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland: 12 of 50 claims left, 38 set aside
• Travis AFB: 6 of 45 claims left, 39 set aside
• Fort Belvoir: 7 of 16 claims left, 9 set aside
• USS Enterprise: 11 of 68 claims left, 57 set aside
• Fort Ord: 12 of 46 claims left, 34 set aside
• Fort Sill, Oklahoma: 13 of 24 claims left, 11 set aside
• Camp Carroll, South Korea: 2 of 35 claims left, 33 set aside
• Camp Hovey: 0 of 22 claims left, 22 set aside
• Camp Howze: 0 of 25 claims left, 25 set aside
• Camp Humphreys: 0 of 36 claims left, 36 set aside
• Camp Kaiser: 1 of 21 claims left, 20 set aside
• Camp Kinser: 0 of 16 claims left, 16 set aside
• Camp Page, Korea: 0 of 41 claims left, 41 set aside
• Camp Red Cloud: 1 of 65 claims left, 64 set aside
• Camp Stanley: 0 of 22 claims left, 22 set aside
• Camp St. Barbara: 0 of 25 claims left, 25 set aside
• Clark Air Force Base, Philippines: 1 of 78 claims left, 77 set aside
• Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland: 3 of 21 claims left, 18 set aside
• Ellsworth Air Force Base: 10 of 16 claims left, 6 set aside
• Fort Bliss: 13 of 25 claims left, 12 set aside
• Fort Carson: 5 of 34 claims left, 29 set aside
• Fort Chaffee, Arkansas: 1 of 39 claims left, 38 set aside
• Fort Clayton, Panama: 0 of 28 claims left, 28 set aside
• Fort Davis: 2 of 19 claims left, 17 set aside
• Fort Drum: 2 of 22 claims left, 20 set aside
• Fort Gordon (Eisenhower): 11 of 88 claims left, 77 set aside
• Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri: 5 of 26 claims left, 21 set aside
• Fort Lewis, Washington: 11 of 42 claims left, 31 set aside
• Fort Riley: 7 of 21 claims left, 14 set aside
• Fort Sherman, Panama: 0 of 28 claims left, 28 set aside
• Kadena AFB: 2 of 164 claims left, 162 set aside
• Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Japan: 2 of 140 claims left, 138 set aside
• Keesler Air Force Base: 6 of 20 claims left, 14 set aside
• Kimpo Air Force Base: 0 of 32 claims left, 32 set aside
• Kunsan Air Force Base: 1 of 26 claims left, 25 set aside
• Lackland AFB, Texas: 10 of 36 claims left, 26 set aside
• Osan Air Force Base: 3 of 38 claims left, 35 set aside
• Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot: 9 of 16 claims left, 7 set aside
• Subic Bay Naval Station: 1 of 120 claims left, 119 set aside
• USS America: 7 of 81 claims left, 74 set aside
• USS Bennington: 0 of 17 claims left, 17 set aside
• USS Bon Homme Richard: 1 of 29 claims left, 28 set aside
• USS Constellation: 2 of 64 claims left, 62 set aside
• USS Coral Sea: 3 of 51 claims left, 48 set aside
• USS Franklin D. Roosevelt: 0 of 18 claims left, 18 set aside
• USS Hancock: 2 of 36 claims left, 34 set aside
• USS Intrepid: 1 of 27 claims left, 26 set aside
• USS Midway: 3 of 35 claims left, 32 set aside
• USS New Orleans: 2 of 17 claims left, 15 set aside
• USS Okinawa: 0 of 18 claims left, 18 set aside
• USS Oriskany: 1 of 30 claims left, 29 set aside
• USS Ranger: 4 of 63 claims left, 59 set aside
• USS Saratoga: 9 of 29 claims left, 20 set aside
• USS Ticonderoga: 0 of 45 claims left, 45 set aside

Read the decisions

Recent decisions, with the Board's reasoning as summarized by AI:

• A25098470, November 2025: type II diabetes granted on presumed herbicide exposure at Takhli air base in Thailand.
• A25101877, November 2025: type II diabetes granted on the presumption for service in Thailand, confirmed by military personnel records.
• A25105794, December 2025: type II diabetes granted secondary to PTSD; the Board found persuasive a private opinion that PTSD led to an inactive lifestyle and metabolic changes that caused the diabetes.
• A25094750, October 2025: a kidney condition, diagnosed as diabetic nephropathy, granted secondary to service-connected diabetes.
• A25110767, December 2025: diabetes denied; a VA examiner found it less likely than not caused by service, noting it began after separation.

What the data cannot tell you

The counts follow the diagnostic code, so they include some claims coded under DC 7913 that are not diabetes, such as vitamin D deficiency, and type I diabetes, which is not on the herbicide list. Secondary counts include only claims the Board marked as secondary to a condition. The groups come from what each decision mentions; a mention is not proof of service or exposure. Historical outcomes, not predictions.

For representatives

• Prove the qualifying service and the dates first; for a herbicide-exposed veteran, the presumption carries the diabetes.
• For a Thai air base, show service on the base within the dates; since the PACT Act, no particular job or perimeter duty is needed.
• Once diabetes is service connected, screen every complication that could be rated on its own: nerves in the legs and arms, kidneys, eyes, circulation and erectile dysfunction.
• For a veteran without presumptive service, consider whether a service-connected condition such as PTSD led to the diabetes, and get an opinion that explains the chain.