Endocrine system
VA rating for diabetes, diagnostic code 7913
Diabetes mellitus is diagnostic code 7913, evaluated at 10, 20, 40, 60 or 100 percent. The steps are built by adding requirements rather than by measuring severity. Insulin and a restricted diet reach 20 percent. Adding regulation of activities reaches 40, and that phrase is the hinge of the whole code.
Published 2026-08-21. Last updated 2026-08-24. Written and reviewed under Veteran Health Network's institutional review process.
What each level requires
diabetes is rated under diagnostic code 7913, which the schedule calls "Diabetes mellitus", at 38 CFR 4.119.
100 percent requires
In plain English
More than one insulin injection a day, a restricted diet and regulation of activities, together with episodes of ketoacidosis or hypoglycemic reactions needing at least three hospital admissions a year or weekly visits to a diabetic care provider, plus either progressive loss of weight and strength or complications that would be compensable if rated on their own.
As written in 38 CFR 4.119
Requiring more than one daily injection of insulin, restricted diet, and regulation of activities (avoidance of strenuous occupational and recreational activities) with episodes of ketoacidosis or hypoglycemic reactions requiring at least three hospitalizations per year or weekly visits to a diabetic care provider, plus either progressive loss of weight and strength or complications that would be compensable if separately evaluated
60 percent requires
In plain English
One or more insulin injections a day, a restricted diet and regulation of activities, together with episodes of ketoacidosis or hypoglycemic reactions needing one or two hospital admissions a year or twice monthly provider visits, plus complications that would not be compensable on their own.
As written in 38 CFR 4.119
Requiring one or more daily injection of insulin, restricted diet, and regulation of activities with episodes of ketoacidosis or hypoglycemic reactions requiring one or two hospitalizations per year or twice a month visits to a diabetic care provider, plus complications that would not be compensable if separately evaluated
40 percent requires
In plain English
One or more insulin injections a day, a restricted diet, and regulation of activities. This is where regulation of activities first appears, and the schedule defines it a level above as avoiding strenuous occupational and recreational activity.
As written in 38 CFR 4.119
Requiring one or more daily injection of insulin, restricted diet, and regulation of activities
20 percent requires
In plain English
Either insulin and a restricted diet, or an oral hypoglycemic agent and a restricted diet. No regulation of activities is required.
As written in 38 CFR 4.119
Requiring one or more daily injection of insulin and restricted diet, or; oral hypoglycemic agent and restricted diet
10 percent requires
In plain English
Manageable by restricted diet alone.
As written in 38 CFR 4.119
Manageable by restricted diet only
Notes the schedule attaches to this code
These are part of the regulation and they change how the criteria above are applied. They are reproduced word for word.
- Note (1): Evaluate compensable complications of diabetes separately unless they are part of the criteria used to support a 100-percent evaluation. Noncompensable complications are considered part of the diabetic process under DC 7913.
- Note (2): When diabetes mellitus has been conclusively diagnosed, do not request a glucose tolerance test solely for rating purposes.
Regulation text reproduced from 38 CFR 4.119, read on 2026-08-21. Read the section at the eCFR. Part 4 is amended on a rolling schedule, so the date above is the date this text was checked and not the date it was written.
The step from 20 to 40, and where its key phrase is defined
Derived from the regulation
Twenty percent reads "Requiring one or more daily injection of insulin and restricted diet, or; oral hypoglycemic agent and restricted diet". Forty percent reads "Requiring one or more daily injection of insulin, restricted diet, and regulation of activities". The difference between them is three words: regulation of activities.
The regulation does define the phrase, but not where it first appears. It is parenthetical inside the 100 percent criterion: avoidance of strenuous occupational and recreational activities.
So a reader working up from the bottom meets the requirement at 40 percent and the definition at 100 percent, and a summary that prints only the level a person is interested in will separate them permanently.
This describes the structure of the code. It makes no statement about what any record shows.
Complications, and the rule that governs them
Derived from the regulation
Note (1) to code 7913 sets the rule for the conditions that follow diabetes. Compensable complications are evaluated separately, unless they are part of the criteria used to support a 100 percent evaluation. Noncompensable complications are treated as part of the diabetic process under 7913.
That is a two-way rule and both directions matter. A complication that would rate at zero percent on its own is absorbed into the diabetes rating. A complication that would rate above zero is evaluated in its own right, except at the top of the scale where the code has already counted it.
Note (2) is narrower and purely evidentiary: once diabetes is conclusively diagnosed, a glucose tolerance test is not to be requested solely for rating purposes.
The 2017 amendment to this code
Derived from the regulation
Code 7913 was amended within the last decade, which is recent by the standards of this schedule.
Appendix A to Part 4 packs six changes into a single line for code 7913: "Criterion September 9, 1975; criterion August 13, 1981; criterion June 6, 1996; evaluation June 9, 1996; criterion December 10, 2017; note December 10, 2017."
The endocrine section's Federal Register line has two entries, twenty one years apart: 61 FR 20446, May 7, 1996, as amended at 82 FR 50804, Nov. 2, 2017. Both records were read on 2026-08-21 against the edition current at 2026-08-01.
See every level beside the regulation it comes from
The rating threshold cheatsheet shows all of the levels for diabetes in one view, plain English on the left and the regulation itself on the right, in a layout built to print.
It is free and it never says which level anyone meets. It describes what each one requires and leaves the reading to the person whose record it is.
Sources
- 38 CFR 4.119, Schedule of ratings, endocrine system (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations)
- 38 CFR 4.14, Avoidance of pyramiding (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations)
- Appendix A to Part 4, Table of Amendments and Effective Dates Since 1946 (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations)
Accuracy owner Brayden Marley. Part 4 is amended on a rolling schedule, so the retrieval date above is what this page is accurate as of.