Erectile dysfunction VA claims: secondary conditions, SMC and what the Board grants

How does VA rate erectile dysfunction?

At 0 percent under DC 7522 in 38 CFR 4.115b, but the schedule flags it for special monthly compensation. Under 38 CFR 3.350(a), loss of use of a creative organ is paid as special monthly compensation (k), on top of the combined rating. VA's manual says the issue can be raised by the evidence, without a separate claim (M21-1 VIII.iv.4.A.4).

So a grant matters even at a zero rating. Treatment records that show the condition, and an exam that addresses loss of use, are what special monthly compensation rests on.

Can erectile dysfunction be secondary to PTSD or depression?

Yes, under 38 CFR 3.310(a). PTSD is the condition it is most often claimed secondary to: the Board granted 352 of 1,054 (33.4%). Medication is a common link: 236 of the 631 grants made secondary to a mental health condition name a medication, such as an antidepressant.

Granted

All erectile dysfunction claims

17.6%

Coronary artery disease

43.2%

Depression

40.0%

Prostate, bladder or kidney cancer

39.7%

Hypertension

38.8%

PTSD

33.4%

Diabetes

28.6%

Back condition

26.0%

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 that condition.

Claimed secondary to	Granted	Veterans	Share
Diabetes	316	1,105	28.6%
PTSD	352	1,054	33.4%
Prostate, bladder or kidney cancer	292	736	39.7%
Hypertension	179	461	38.8%
Back condition	106	407	26.0%
Depression	60	150	40.0%
Coronary artery disease	38	88	43.2%

Can erectile dysfunction be secondary to diabetes?

Yes, and it is the most common secondary claim of all: 316 of 1,105 veterans were granted (28.6%). Here the disease itself is the usual link; a medication is named in only 4.7% of those grants.

Which secondary claims win most often?

Erectile dysfunction claimed secondary to coronary artery disease (43.2%), depression (40.0%), a prostate, bladder or kidney cancer (39.7%) and hypertension (38.8%), against 17.6% for erectile dysfunction claims overall.

Claims made secondary to a back condition did worst (26.0%). The medical opinion has to explain how a back condition, or the medication for it, causes or worsens the erectile dysfunction.

Look up your client's group

Every base, exposure, job and medal with at least 15 decided erectile dysfunction claims, 89 groups in all. Only 5 clear our bar for a lead, and all of them are Thai air bases.

Bases 25Exposures 26Military jobs 18Medals 20

Bar: share of this group's erectile dysfunction claims the Board granted. Red line: all erectile dysfunction claims, 17.6% granted. A bar past the line won more often than usual.

×

More often than usual: how much more often erectile dysfunction 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 erectile dysfunction (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

• Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand

  Strong lead
  50.6% granted · 43 of 85

  2.9×more often

• U-Tapao Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand

  Good lead
  42.9% granted · 48 of 112

  3.2×more often

• Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand

  Good lead
  38.5% granted · 15 of 39

  2.6×more often

• Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand

  Good lead
  37.8% granted · 17 of 45

  2.7×more often

• Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand

  Good lead
  36.1% granted · 13 of 36

  2.8×more often

• Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTAFB) in Korat, Thailand
  32.9% granted · 27 of 82

  2.8×more often

• Subic Bay Naval Station
  28.0% granted · 7 of 25

  2.2×more often

• Fort Knox
  25.0% granted · 4 of 16

  0.9×more often

• Da Nang AFB
  24.1% granted · 19 of 79

  2.2×more often

• Camp Casey
  21.6% granted · 8 of 37

  1.9×more often

• USS Enterprise
  20.0% granted · 3 of 15

  1.7×more often

• USS Kitty Hawk
  18.8% granted · 3 of 16

  1.9×more often

• Fort Hood
  18.2% granted · 4 of 22

  0.8×more often

• Kadena AFB
  16.7% granted · 4 of 24

  2.0×more often

• Andersen AFB, Guam
  15.8% granted · 3 of 19

  2.3×more often

• Fort Gordon (Eisenhower)
  14.3% granted · 4 of 28

  1.6×more often

• Camp Lejeune
  13.8% granted · 44 of 319

  1.6×more often

• Fort McClellan, Alabama
  12.3% granted · 8 of 65

  1.4×more often

• Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California
  10.0% granted · 2 of 20

  0.8×more often

• Cam Ranh Bay Air Base
  9.1% granted · 2 of 22

  2.7×more often

• Fort Bragg
  8.7% granted · 2 of 23

  0.9×more often

• USS America
  6.7% granted · 1 of 15

  2.0×more often

• Fort Benning
  4.5% granted · 1 of 22

  0.9×more often

• Fort Jackson
  0.0% granted · 0 of 22

  1.0×more often

• Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Japan
  0.0% granted · 0 of 17

  1.8×more often

Why do Thai air bases show up as leads?

VA presumes type II diabetes for qualifying service at Thai air bases, and erectile dysfunction is a common complication claimed secondary to it. Decisions that name Udorn were granted 43 of 85; U-Tapao 48 of 112.

Read the decisions

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

• A25111171, December 2025: erectile dysfunction granted secondary to a service-connected depressive disorder; the Board tied it to the psychiatric medication and the disorder, on treatment records and a private clinician's opinion.
• A25110022, December 2025: erectile dysfunction granted secondary to service-connected hypertension, on a private medical opinion and the benefit of the doubt.
• A25111046, December 2025: erectile dysfunction claimed secondary to PTSD, denied; no mental health condition was service connected, so there was nothing for the claim to attach to.

What the data cannot tell you

The count follows DC 7522, which also covers a few related claims (for example, female sexual arousal disorder). The medication count is a text match on each grant's AI summary and reasoning. Secondary counts include only claims the Board marked as secondary to a condition. These are historical outcomes, not predictions.

For representatives

• Make sure the condition the claim rests on is service connected first; the denial above turned on that.
• For a mental health link, document the medications and get an opinion that names them.
• Once erectile dysfunction is granted, check that special monthly compensation (k) was awarded too.
• For diabetes, prostate cancer and hypertension, screen for erectile dysfunction as a complication.