Learn library · you prepare your own claim · we do not file
Secondary conditions, as published education
VA publishes a rule for disabilities that are proximately due to, or aggravated by, a service-connected disease or injury. This article explains that idea and the only schedule notes this product is willing to discuss beside it. It is not a list of conditions you should claim, and it assigns no percent and no payment.
Official sources last reviewed 2026-10-03. We organize and educate. We do not file.
Veterans Benefits AI · veteransbenefitsai.com · MAOMA Enterprises LLC
Organize copies you already have
Sign in to store copies you choose. You prepare your own claim. We organize and help you understand. We do not file. We are not an accredited representative. We do not download a C-file from VA. Each veteran pays their own monthly subscription — $9.99/mo or $107.99/yr (About 10% off a year paid upfront), a flat monthly or yearly fee for that veteran, never a percentage of VA benefits. Not an organization fee. Never a cut of VA pay.
You can keep reading without an account. These pages do not file a claim, and an account is not required to read them.
What 38 CFR 3.310 is about
38 CFR 3.310 is titled as disabilities that are proximately due to, or aggravated by, service-connected disease or injury. In plain language, VA’s regulation describes a way a disability can be related to one that is already service-connected: because it was caused by that disability, or because that disability made it worse. The regulation is the source. This page is a reading aid.
A published rule is not a finding about you. It does not say that any condition you have is secondary, and it does not say that a claim will be granted. Eligibility, evidence, and the decision stay with VA.
You prepare your own claim. We organize and help you understand the published rule. We do not file, and we do not tell you what to claim.
Often-linked is not advice to claim
People talk about conditions that are “often linked.” That phrase is a conversation habit. It is not a grant, not a percent, and not an instruction. Often-linked does not mean you should claim. A curated educational note is still education.
This product does not run a secondary finder. It does not invent secondaries from a sentence you type. It does not prescribe a nexus letter or a claim strategy. Criteria questions, when they appear in the signed-in workbench, are questions for you to answer in your own words. We do not invent symptoms.
Medical conclusions belong to clinicians. A legal conclusion about service connection belongs to VA, or to a representative you appoint under VA’s accreditation rules. We are not an accredited representative.
Two published schedule notes this product will discuss
Published Diagnostic Code 6260 Note (1) (38 CFR 4.87) states that a separate evaluation for tinnitus may be combined with an evaluation under diagnostic codes 6100, 6200, 6204, or other diagnostic code, except when tinnitus supports an evaluation under one of those codes. That is schedule education about combining evaluations — not advice that hearing impairment is secondary to tinnitus, not a finding that you should claim either, and not an evaluation of you. See also the hearing-impairment learn page for 38 CFR 4.85 method education.
The same published DC 6260 Note (1) discusses combining a separate tinnitus evaluation with evaluations under diagnostic codes 6100, 6200, 6204, or other codes. That is schedule education — not advice to claim tinnitus secondary to hearing loss, not a secondary finder result, and not an evaluation of you. See /learn/tinnitus for DC 6260 bands.
Schedule Note (1) is about combining evaluations when both topics are rated — it is not itself a published legal secondary nexus under 38 CFR 3.310’s special examples. If you later mark a secondary claim theory without a published legal or presumptive link, a clinician opinion you already have may matter; we will not write one.
Published 38 CFR 4.71a General Rating Formula for Diseases and Injuries of the Spine, Note (1), states: evaluate any associated objective neurologic abnormalities, including, but not limited to, bowel or bladder impairment, separately, under an appropriate diagnostic code. That is schedule education about separate evaluation of associated neurologic findings — not advice to claim radiculopathy or any named secondary, not a diagnosis, and not a finding that you have those abnormalities.
A separate schedule evaluation for associated neurologic abnormalities is not the same as VA automatically granting a secondary claim. When a secondary theory has no clear published legal nexus, clinician opinion evidence may matter on VA’s evidence-needed page — we will not write a nexus letter and we do not invent a mandate.
Those notes are the catalog. Hearing and tinnitus cross-links point at the existing educational pages for Diagnostic Code 6260 and 38 CFR 4.85. Those pages explain published schedule text. They are not an audiogram and not your rating. No dollar amount is attached to any of this.
What this product leaves out on purpose
Named pairs that this product cannot ground in a published VA or eCFR education note already in its catalog stay out. That includes using PTSD as a launch pad for a list of secondaries, and it includes sleep apnea, migraine, hypertension, scars, knee, or ankle pairs offered as if they were standard advice. Leaving them out is the point. A longer page of unsourced links would be a content farm.
A clinician nexus letter is not assumed. Schedule text about combining evaluations, or about evaluating an associated neurologic finding separately, is not itself an order to obtain a paid letter. Where a theory has no clear published legal link, a clinician opinion you already have may matter on VA’s evidence-needed page. We will not write a nexus letter.
Nothing on this page is an award, a combined rating, or a payment. The compensation table and the combined-rating calculator live on their own educational tools, and they still are not your result.
Empty / early reading
Reading this page does not create a packet. Empty / early means you have not stored files here. An empty vault stays empty. It is not a sample C-file, not a filing, and not claim readiness.
Education and organize only. Not a claims agent. Not individualized claim advice. Not legal advice. Not medical advice.
Not a VA decision. Not your rating. Not a promise of service connection, a percent, or a payment.
You prepare your own claim. We organize and help you understand. We do not file, submit, or prosecute a claim.
We are not an accredited representative, and this page does not appoint one.
A packet on this product is an organization view you still control. This product does not submit it.
We do not invent a diagnosis, a nexus opinion, a C-file, or a claim outcome. Unknown stays unknown.
A quote about a file you stored appears only when those exact words are on the page. Picture-only pages are not read. That is not OCR.
Each veteran pays their own monthly subscription — $9.99/mo or $107.99/yr (About 10% off a year paid upfront), a flat monthly or yearly fee for that veteran, never a percentage of VA benefits. Not an organization fee.
This product helps you understand and organize your VA benefits information. We organize and educate. The veteran prepares their own claim. We are not an accredited representative. It is not individualized claim preparation or prosecution. We do not file.
Often-linked is not an instruction to file any condition. This page is not a secondary finder.
We will not write a nexus letter. Medical conclusions belong to clinicians.