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)
The criteria as written
The table on this page is the whole scale. Diagnostic Code 8100 states four criteria and nothing else: no additional percentage levels, and no separate criteria for individual symptoms. A rating is assigned by matching the documented pattern of attacks to the level it most closely fits.
Reading the scale in plain language
The difference between 10% and 30% is frequency alone: prostrating attacks averaging one in 2 months, versus prostrating attacks occurring on an average once a month, in each case over the last several months.
The 50% level changes more than frequency. It requires attacks that are very frequent, completely prostrating, and prolonged, and it adds a consequence the lower levels do not mention: the attacks must be productive of severe economic inadaptability — a severe effect on the ability to work.
A 0% rating means the attacks are less frequent than the 10% criterion describes. It still records the condition as service-connected; the percentage reflects the frequency the criteria measure.
An average over several months, not a single month
Both the 10% and 30% criteria measure an average over the last several months. One unusually bad month, or one unusually good month, does not by itself set the level — the pattern across several months is what the criteria describe.
That is why records that span time matter: treatment notes across visits, and a headache log kept as attacks happen, show an average in a way a single statement written afterward cannot.
Criteria self-check worksheet
Work through these steps with your headache log and treatment records in front of you. The worksheet organizes your own record against the scale; it does not predict what VA will decide.