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The VA orders this exam to verify your diagnosis and measure how severe it is right now. It can shape your rating and your monthly compensation — but it does not decide your claim. A rating specialist weighs it against your full record, and if the exam does not reflect your condition, you can say so and ask the VA to correct it.
When is your exam?
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After active tuberculosis has been treated and is no longer active, DC 6731 rates you on lasting lung damage: "Depending on the specific findings, rate residuals as interstitial lung disease, restrictive lung disease, or, when obstructive lung disease is the major residual, as chronic bronchitis (DC 6600)." The levels below are the chronic bronchitis formula. There is no graduated step-down schedule for anyone first evaluated after August 19, 1968.
The percentages this diagnostic code can be rated at. Which one applies depends on the findings — no tool here can tell you in advance.
Rated under 38 CFR 4.97, DC 6731. The examiner records findings on the DBQ; a rating specialist makes the decision.
| Rating | Rating criteria | What that means for you |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | In every instance where the schedule does not provide a zero percent evaluation for a diagnostic code, a zero percent evaluation shall be assigned when the requirements for a compensable evaluation are not met. | Your tuberculosis is inactive and your breathing tests do not meet a compensable level. A 0% rating preserves service connection. |
What supports this level
| ||
| 10% | FEV-1 of 71- to 80-percent predicted, or; FEV-1/FVC of 71 to 80 percent, or; DLCO (SB) 66- to 80-percent predicted | Your breathing tests show FEV-1 of 71 to 80 percent predicted, or an FEV-1/FVC ratio of 71 to 80 percent, or DLCO (SB) of 66 to 80 percent predicted. |
What supports this level
| ||
| 30% | FEV-1 of 56- to 70-percent predicted, or; FEV-1/FVC of 56 to 70 percent, or; DLCO (SB) 56- to 65-percent predicted | Your breathing tests show FEV-1 of 56 to 70 percent predicted, or an FEV-1/FVC ratio of 56 to 70 percent, or DLCO (SB) of 56 to 65 percent predicted. |
What supports this level
| ||
| 60% | FEV-1 of 40- to 55-percent predicted, or; FEV-1/FVC of 40 to 55 percent, or; DLCO (SB) of 40- to 55-percent predicted, or; maximum oxygen consumption of 15 to 20 ml/kg/min (with cardiorespiratory limit) | Your breathing tests show FEV-1 of 40 to 55 percent predicted, or an FEV-1/FVC ratio of 40 to 55 percent, or DLCO (SB) of 40 to 55 percent predicted, or maximum oxygen consumption of 15 to 20 ml/kg/min. |
What supports this level
| ||
| 100% | FEV-1 less than 40 percent of predicted value, or; the ratio of Forced Expiratory Volume in one second to Forced Vital Capacity (FEV-1/FVC) less than 40 percent, or; Diffusion Capacity of the Lung for Carbon Monoxide by the Single Breath Method (DLCO (SB)) less than 40-percent predicted, or; maximum exercise capacity less than 15 ml/kg/min oxygen consumption (with cardiac or respiratory limitation), or; cor pulmonale (right heart failure), or; right ventricular hypertrophy, or; pulmonary hypertension (shown by Echo or cardiac catheterization), or; episode(s) of acute respiratory failure, or; requires outpatient oxygen therapy | Your breathing tests show FEV-1 or the FEV-1/FVC ratio less than 40 percent, or DLCO (SB) less than 40 percent predicted, or you have cor pulmonale, right ventricular hypertrophy, pulmonary hypertension, an episode of acute respiratory failure, or you require outpatient oxygen therapy. |
What supports this level
| ||
The middle column is our transcription of the criteria at 38 CFR 4.97, DC 6731, condensed for reading. Read the section itself on eCFR before relying on the exact wording. The items under each level are the kinds of evidence that document it — not a VA checklist, and not a prediction of which level applies to you.
Believing a two-year 100% rating follows inactivity. It does not, unless you were receiving or entitled to receive TB compensation on August 19, 1968 — 38 CFR 4.96(b) confines that graduated schedule (DC 6721 through 6724) to those protected cases. For everyone else, inactive pulmonary TB is rated purely on residuals from the moment it is declared inactive.
Not getting pulmonary function tests before the post-inactivity examination — DC 6731 rates entirely on residuals, and PFT results are the primary evidence.
Not claiming secondary conditions from TB or its treatment (hearing loss, liver damage, neuropathy).
Assuming that because your TB is "cured" you have no claim — lasting lung scarring and reduced capacity are compensable residuals.
These apply to every C&P exam, whatever the condition.