Board decisions
Depression or anxiety secondary to arthritis
In the Board decisions we have indexed since 2019, depression or anxiety appeared as secondary to arthritis in 107 issues. The Board granted 43, denied 13, and sent 48 back for more work. Of the ones it decided, it granted 77 percent.
Every decision counted here is an appeal. The regional office decided the claim first, the veteran disagreed, and the Board is the next step after that. These are not the odds on a first claim.
Since 2019
3 were dismissed or withdrawn.
Across every year we have indexed, that is 351 issues, 60 percent granted of the ones decided, and 56 percent sent back for more work.
What a doctor would have to find
A claim here needs a doctor to find that the arthritis pain led to or worsened the second condition. It is not a finding of ours. The counts above show how the Board answered, one claim at a time. Whether it is true in your case is a question for your doctor.
What a secondary claim needs
In a secondary claim, the Board reads for three things. A diagnosis of the second condition. A first condition that is already service connected. And a medical opinion that says the first condition led to the second, or made it worse, and explains why. The rule itself is shorter than that. Here is the part that matters.
… disability which is proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury shall be service connected.
38 CFR 3.310(a), from the middle of its first sentence
Proximately due to means the first condition led to the second. The other route is aggravation, where the first condition made the second worse. The rule for that route is in the next paragraph of the same section, and it says increase in severity.
Any increase in severity of a nonservice-connected disease or injury that is proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury, and not due to the natural progress of the nonservice-connected disease, will be service connected.
38 CFR 3.310(b), first sentence
That paragraph goes on to say the VA will not concede aggravation without a baseline. A baseline is medical evidence of how bad the second condition was before the first one started making it worse, or the earliest record after that and before the evidence of how bad it is now. If you claim aggravation, find the earliest record you have of the second condition, from either window. Without a baseline from one of them, the VA will not concede aggravation. The other route, that the first condition led to the second, does not need a baseline.
A remand is not a yes or a no. The Board sends the claim back to the regional office for more work, such as a new exam or a record that was not in the file. The claim is decided again later, and that later decision is a separate document.
Recent decisions on these claims
A past Board decision binds only the case it decided, and the Board decides each case on its own facts. Another veteran's decision is not evidence about your condition. Read these to see what evidence the Board weighed, so you know what to gather for your own claim.
- April 24, 2025Granted
Entitlement to service connection for acquired psychiatric disorder, diagnosed as major depressive disorder, secondary to right knee degenerative arthritis with limitation of flexion and right knee…
Read the decision at VA.gov - June 20, 2024Granted
Entitlement to service connection for depression with anxiety to include as secondary to service-connected bilateral knee chondromalacia patella with degenerative arthritis and degenerative arthritis…
Read the decision at VA.gov - May 29, 2024Granted
Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder as secondary to service-connected degenerative arthritis, lumbar spine with spinal stenosis and intervertebral disc syndrome…
Read the decision at VA.gov - May 3, 2024Denied
Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder as secondary to service-connected left knee degenerative joint disease and left knee impairment
Read the decision at VA.gov - February 2, 2024Denied
Entitlement to an acquired psychiatric disorder, as secondary to service-connected osteoarthritis of the left ankle with deformity of the distal tibia post-traumatic and chronic medical malleolar…
Read the decision at VA.gov
The Depression and Anxiety Pack
Everything the Board has decided about depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions, in one file. How the VA rates it, what gets claimed with it and how often each one was granted, and the decisions to read yourself. No account and nothing to fill in.
See what is in it Go to cart ()
$15, one time. Add as many conditions as you need and pay once.
First time here?
This site is one veteran's method for a VA disability claim, built on the Board's own decisions. Everything under Decisions is free and there is nothing to sign up for. One page per condition and one per pairing, each built from what the Board granted, denied and sent back, with the decisions themselves linked at their source.
See everything on depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions
Keep reading
Arthritis
The first condition. Since 2019: 70,218 issues, 38 percent granted of the ones decided
Depression, anxiety, and other mental health
The second condition. Since 2019: 73,241 issues, 50 percent granted of the ones decided
Lower back conditions secondary to arthritis
Since 2019: 275 issues paired, 58 percent granted of the ones decided
Hip conditions secondary to arthritis
Since 2019: 300 issues paired, 45 percent granted of the ones decided
Knee conditions secondary to arthritis
Since 2019: 253 issues paired, 38 percent granted of the ones decided
Radiculopathy or neuropathy secondary to arthritis
Since 2019: 312 issues paired, 79 percent granted of the ones decided
Neck conditions secondary to arthritis
Since 2019: 145 issues paired, 27 percent granted of the ones decided
Sources
- The rule that Board decisions are not precedent, 38 CFR 20.1303.
We count an issue in a pair when its text says one condition is secondary to the other and we can place both in a condition family. Percent granted is of the ones the Board decided, so remands and dismissals are left out. Past decisions do not predict yours. Each page states the decisions from 2019 on, and says so, unless the Board decided too few of them since 2019 to give a percentage worth reading. Where that happens the page counts every year instead and tells you it has. This page is education, not legal advice. Rules quoted are from 38 CFR Parts 3 and 4, as published on the government's eCFR website. Board decisions are public records, linked at their source.