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Digestive system

VA rating for irritable bowel syndrome, diagnostic code 7319

Irritable bowel syndrome is diagnostic code 7319, rated at 10, 20 or 30 percent. The criteria were rewritten on 19 May 2024 and now ask two questions at once: how often abdominal pain related to defecation occurs, and whether at least two of six listed bowel features are present.

Published 2026-08-21. Last updated 2026-08-24. Written and reviewed under Veteran Health Network's institutional review process.

What each level requires

irritable bowel syndrome is rated under diagnostic code 7319, which the schedule calls "Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)", at 38 CFR 4.114.

30%

30 percent requires

In plain English

Abdominal pain related to defecation on at least one day a week over the previous three months, together with two or more of six listed features: a change in stool frequency, a change in stool form, altered stool passage meaning straining or urgency, mucorrhea, bloating, or subjective distension.

As written in 38 CFR 4.114

Abdominal pain related to defecation at least one day per week during the previous three months; and two or more of the following: (1) change in stool frequency, (2) change in stool form, (3) altered stool passage (straining and/or urgency), (4) mucorrhea, (5) abdominal bloating, or (6) subjective distension
20%

20 percent requires

In plain English

The same pain and the same requirement of two or more of the six features, at a frequency of at least three days a month over the previous three months.

As written in 38 CFR 4.114

Abdominal pain related to defecation for at least three days per month during the previous three months; and two or more of the following: (1) change in stool frequency, (2) change in stool form, (3) altered stool passage (straining and/or urgency), (4) mucorrhea, (5) abdominal bloating, or (6) subjective distension
10%

10 percent requires

In plain English

The same pain and the same two-of-six requirement, occurring at least once in the previous three months.

As written in 38 CFR 4.114

Abdominal pain related to defecation at least once during the previous three months; and two or more of the following: (1) change in stool frequency, (2) change in stool form, (3) altered stool passage (straining and/or urgency), (4) mucorrhea, (5) abdominal bloating, or (6) subjective distension

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: This diagnostic code may include functional digestive disorders (see § 3.317 of this chapter), such as dyspepsia, functional bloating and constipation, and diarrhea. Evaluate other symptoms of a functional digestive disorder not encompassed by this diagnostic code under the appropriate diagnostic code, to include gastrointestinal dysmotility syndrome (DC 7356), following the general principles of § 4.14 and this section.

Regulation text reproduced from 38 CFR 4.114, 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 criteria changed in 2024, and the old wording is still circulating

Derived from the regulation

Diagnostic code 7319 has existed since 1962, but the words in it today were written in 2024.

Appendix A to Part 4 puts the whole history of code 7319 on one line: "Title November 1, 1962; evaluation November 1, 1962; title, evaluation, criterion, and note May 19, 2024."

The digestive section's Federal Register line ends in March 2024, and the entry before it is from 2001: 29 FR 6718, May 22, 1964, as amended at 34 FR 5063, Mar. 11, 1969; 40 FR 42540, Sept. 15, 1975; 41 FR 11301, Mar. 18, 1976; 66 FR 29488, May 31, 2001; 89 FR 19743, Mar. 20, 2024. Both records were read on 2026-08-21 against the edition current at 2026-08-01.

One structure repeated three times, with the clock changed

Derived from the regulation

All three levels of the current code are the same sentence with one number moved. Each asks for abdominal pain related to defecation, and each then asks for two or more of six features: a change in stool frequency, a change in stool form, altered stool passage meaning straining or urgency, mucorrhea, abdominal bloating, or subjective distension.

What separates the levels is the frequency of the pain over the previous three months. Ten percent asks for it "at least once during the previous three months". Twenty percent asks for "at least three days per month". Thirty percent asks for "at least one day per week".

That means the two-of-six requirement is constant across the whole scale. Meeting more of the six features does not move the level. Only the frequency of pain does.

What else this code now covers

Derived from the regulation

The note attached to code 7319 extends it beyond irritable bowel syndrome as such. It states that the code may include functional digestive disorders, and it names dyspepsia, functional bloating, constipation and diarrhea, cross-referencing 38 CFR 3.317, the undiagnosed illness provision.

The same note then directs symptoms not covered by the code elsewhere, naming gastrointestinal dysmotility syndrome at diagnostic code 7356, and referring back to 38 CFR 4.14 on rating a single disability once.

So the code number is broader than the condition name suggests, which is unusual and is worth knowing before assuming a diagnosis of something else means a different code.

See every level beside the regulation it comes from

The rating threshold cheatsheet shows all of the levels for irritable bowel syndrome 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.

Open the rating threshold cheatsheet

Sources

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.