The Board grants more of almost everything than it did in 2018. Hearing loss and tinnitus are the exceptions.

In 2018 the Board of Veterans' Appeals granted 13.6% of the knee issues it decided. In 2025 it granted 22.2%. PTSD went from 23.1% to 34.6%, sleep apnea from 20.6% to 33.4%, and hypertension from 9.9% to 22.6%, 2.3 times the 2018 rate.

The pattern holds almost everywhere. Of the 15 conditions the Board decides most often, 13 were granted more often in 2025 than in 2018. The largest jump in relative terms was cervical spine limitation of motion, at 2.7 times its 2018 rate. The figures come from 742,269 Board decisions on these conditions from 2017 to 2026, counted at the issue level.

20182025

Knee

13.6%

22.2%

Hearing loss

20.3%

16.4%

PTSD

23.1%

34.6%

Tinnitus

38.3%

37.7%

Sleep apnea

20.6%

33.4%

Spine arthritis

16.0%

26.6%

Hypertension

9.9%

22.6%

Disc syndrome

14.6%

25.0%

Migraine

24.6%

35.5%

Shoulder

10.6%

20.3%

Diabetes

15.2%

21.3%

Ankle

11.7%

22.2%

Depression

29.3%

40.6%

Hip

9.8%

19.4%

Cervical spine

7.8%

20.7%

The 15 conditions the Board decided most often from 2017 to 2026, largest first. Issue level; remands included in the denominator.

Remands fell almost everywhere too

A remand sends the issue back for more development, usually a new exam or opinion. In 2018 the Board remanded 52.6% of knee issues and 42.3% of PTSD issues. In 2025 those shares were 45.6% and 28.3%. Remands fell for 14 of the 15 conditions. Diabetes was the one exception, up from 35.6% to 39.8%.

20182025

Knee

52.6%

45.6%

Hearing loss

36.1%

25.1%

PTSD

42.3%

28.3%

Tinnitus

24.0%

19.6%

Sleep apnea

48.6%

45.8%

Spine arthritis

45.6%

43.7%

Hypertension

48.5%

40.4%

Disc syndrome

46.1%

43.8%

Migraine

43.3%

36.9%

Shoulder

52.9%

46.6%

Diabetes

35.6%

39.8%

Ankle

53.5%

42.0%

Depression

37.0%

25.5%

Hip

56.7%

46.5%

Cervical spine

60.0%

50.8%

Same conditions and order as the chart above.

Fewer remands and more grants moved together. Where the Board once sent a claim back, it now more often decides it, and more often decides it for the veteran. The data does not show why. Two things changed over these years that are worth knowing. The Appeals Modernization Act took effect in February 2019 and gave veterans new ways to appeal, with different rules for what evidence the Board may consider. And the Board worked through its backlog of older legacy appeals, so the mix of cases it decided in 2025 is not the mix it decided in 2018.

The two exceptions

Hearing loss is the only one of the 15 conditions the Board granted less often in 2025 than in 2018: 20.3% then, 16.4% now, a drop of 3.9 percentage points. Tinnitus stood still at 38.3% and 37.7%. Both are claims that rest on in-service noise exposure, and both had lower remand shares than most other conditions. Hearing loss also has a bright-line test that most other conditions do not: the audiogram must meet 38 CFR 3.385 before there is a disability to rate. A companion story looks at why the two hearing claims end so differently.

For representatives

• A grant rate from before 2020 is stale. For most of these conditions the 2025 figure is several points higher, and for hypertension and cervical spine it is more than double. Quote the research page, which shows every year.
• Remand is still the most common outcome for most of these conditions. In 2025 the remand share was at least two in five issues for 9 of the 15, led by cervical spine at 50.8% and shoulder at 46.6%. An adequate exam and a reasoned opinion in the file before the Board decides is still the main way to avoid another year of waiting.
• Do not read the trend as a forecast. The Board sees only appealed claims, most denied once already. A rising grant share says the Board is deciding differently, not that any one claim is more likely to win.

What this data can't tell you

The counts are issue level and include rating issues as well as service connection, so a grant can mean a higher rating rather than a new award. Remands stay in the denominator, so a falling remand share raises the grant share on its own. Each year is the year the Board decided the issue, not the year the claim was filed, and the mix of legacy and modernized appeals shifted over the period. The data shows what the Board did. It does not show what changed inside the Board, in the law, or in the records veterans brought.