Analogous rating

An analogous rating is how the VA evaluates a service-connected condition that the Schedule for Rating Disabilities does not list by name. Rather than leaving the condition unrated, the VA rates it under the criteria for a listed condition that is closely related in the functions affected, the anatomical location involved, and the symptoms produced.

The schedule at 38 CFR Part 4 cannot name every condition medicine recognizes, and new diagnoses appear faster than regulations are amended. The analogy is what keeps the schedule usable in the meantime. It is the VA's determination, made on the evidence in the file, and the rating decision's code sheet shows which diagnostic code the evaluation was assigned under.

What the record contributes is description rather than argument. A clinical note that documents the diagnosis and what the condition actually limits gives the criteria something to be applied to, whichever criteria those turn out to be. Whether the analogy the VA chose was the right one is a question for the veteran and their accredited representative or VSO, where the free VSO route is always available.