The DC 8100 rating chart (38 CFR 4.124a)
| Rating | Criteria — Diagnostic Code 8100, Migraine |
|---|---|
| 50% | With very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks productive of severe economic inadaptability |
| 30% | With characteristic prostrating attacks occurring on an average once a month over last several months |
| 10% | With characteristic prostrating attacks averaging one in 2 months over last several months |
| 0% | With less frequent attacks |
Source: 38 CFR 4.124a, Diagnostic Code 8100 — Migraine (eCFR)
One diagnostic code, four rating levels
Migraine sits in 38 CFR 4.124a, the schedule of ratings for neurological conditions and convulsive disorders, at Diagnostic Code 8100. The chart on this page reproduces the criteria exactly as the regulation states them.
Every level above 0% requires prostrating attacks. Frequency is not measured on a single day or week: the 10% and 30% criteria describe an average over the last several months, and the 50% criterion adds that the attacks be completely prostrating, prolonged, and productive of severe economic inadaptability.
What the rating turns on
Three questions run through the whole scale. How often do attacks occur, averaged over several months? Are the attacks prostrating — do they stop you from carrying on? And at the top level, are they completely prostrating and prolonged, with a severe effect on your ability to work?
Evidence that speaks to those questions includes treatment records, a dated headache log, and statements from people who have seen what an attack does to your day. The guides in this series take each part in turn: the criteria themselves, what prostrating means, the DBQ examiners use, secondary claims, filing, and increases.
Headache log template
DC 8100 is decided on the frequency and character of attacks over the last several months, so a dated log is the simplest way to document both. Copy this layout into a notebook or notes app and record one entry for each attack.
Migraine guides in this series
- Migraine VA rating criteria: the DC 8100 scale in plain language
The complete DC 8100 criteria table — 0%, 10%, 30%, and 50% — quoted from 38 CFR 4.124a, with a plain-language reading of each level and a worksheet for comparing your record to the scale.
- Prostrating attacks: the word the migraine rating turns on
What prostrating and completely prostrating mean in the DC 8100 criteria, how the 30% and 50% levels differ, and how to document attacks so the record answers the questions the criteria ask.
- The migraine DBQ: how the headaches questionnaire is used
How the VA headaches DBQ is used in a migraine claim, the topics it covers — diagnosis, attack frequency, prostrating character, treatment, and work impact — and how to prepare accurate answers.
- Headaches vs. migraine: which rating criteria apply?
VA's rating schedule lists migraine at Diagnostic Code 8100. Whether your records say headaches or migraine, the criteria ask the same questions: are the attacks prostrating, and how often do they occur?
- Migraine secondary to PTSD: how the connection is claimed
Migraine can be service-connected secondary to an already service-connected condition such as PTSD. What secondary service connection requires, and the evidence that supports the link.
- Migraine secondary to tinnitus: how the connection is claimed
Migraine can be service-connected secondary to service-connected tinnitus when medical evidence links the two. What the claim requires, and the evidence that supports the link.
- How to file a VA claim for migraines
The steps to file a VA disability claim for migraine: protect a potential effective date with an intent to file, gather diagnosis and attack-frequency evidence, file, and follow the claim.
- Migraine rating increase: when the current rating no longer fits
A migraine rating can be re-examined when attacks become more frequent or more severe. How to compare your recent record against the next DC 8100 level, and the routes to request a higher rating.