Hypertension grants typically go one of three ways: (1) in-service diagnosis or elevated readings, (2) 1-year post-service chronic-disease presumption under § 3.307(a), or (3) secondary to a service-connected condition — PTSD, diabetes, or sleep apnea most commonly. Since the PACT Act of 2022, hypertension is also an Agent Orange presumptive for veterans with qualifying herbicide exposure.
Top 5 recent grants
Ranked by decision date. Each card shows verbatim Findings of Fact and Reasons & Bases pulled directly from the Board's published decision — no summarization, no AI rewording.
Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)
1. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor, the Veteran's hypertension was due to his in-service exposures to solvents, chemicals, and fuels. 2. The Veteran's chronic fatigue is due to the Veteran's service-connected hypertension. 3. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor, the Veteran's ED was due to his in-service exposures to solvents, chemicals, and fuels. 4. The loss of use of a creative organ is due to ED.
Reasons & Bases (verbatim excerpts from decision)
Entitlement to service connection for hypertension is granted. […] The evidence must be persuasively against the Veteran's claim to warrant a denial and that is not the case here; the negative evidence is not more persuasive or of greater evidentiary weight. Accordingly, the Board finds that the evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran's diagnosed hypertension was the result of their exposures during their active duty service. The benefit-of-the-doubt rule is therefore for application. See 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. The Board will resolve reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor and find that the evidence supports the grant of service connection for hypertension. See 38 U.S.C. § 5107. […] The evidence must be persuasively against the Veteran's claim to warrant a denial and that is not the case here; the negative evidence is not more persuasive or of greater evidentiary weight. Accordingly, the Board finds that the evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran's diagnosed CFS was secondary to his service connected hypertension. The benefit-of-the-doubt rule is therefore for application. See 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. The Board will resolve reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor and find that the evidence supports the grant of service connection. See 38 U.S.C. § 5107.
Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)
1. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor, it is at least as likely as not that his current heart disability (diagnosed as a right bundle branch block, an AV conduction defect, and arteriosclerotic heart disease (coronary artery disease)) is related to an in-service injury, disease, or event, including exposure to toxic chemicals. 2. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor, it is at least as likely as not that his current hypertension is related to an in-service injury, disease, or event, including exposure to toxic chemicals.
Reasons & Bases (verbatim excerpts from decision)
The evidence in favor of the claim includes a November 2025 VA medical opinion, in which the VA examiner stated that the Veteran's claimed hypertension was at least as likely as not (likelihood is at least approximately balanced or nearly equal, if not higher) caused by the indicated toxic exposure risk activity(ies), after considering the total potential exposure through all applicable military deployments of the Veteran and the synergistic, combined effect of all toxic exposure risk activities of the Veteran. As a supporting rationale, the examiner stated that the Veteran is claiming service connection for hypertension related to his toxic exposure. His TERA is positive for m-xylene, naphthalene, particulates not otherwise specified, o-xylene, p-xylene, toluene, vanadium, iron, benzene, ethyl benzene, sarin, phosphonofluoridic acid, and methyl-cyclohexyl ester. The examiner referred to a medical article, and stated that studies indicate that many of the toxic exposure suffered by the Veteran can increase the risk for hypertension. Long-term exposure to fine particulate matter is a proven environmental risk factor for increased blood pressure and the development of hypertension. The mechanisms involve oxidative stress, systemic inflammation, and endothelial dysfunction.
Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)
1. The Veteran's hypertension was at least as likely as not caused or aggravated by her service-connected disabilities including depression and the chronic pain caused by her musculoskeletal disabilities. 2. The Veteran's coronary artery disease (CAD) was at least as likely as not caused or aggravated by her service-connected hypertension. 3. The evidence of record is at least in approximate balance regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected disabilities caused or aggravated her acute kidney disease, the cause of the Veteran's death.
Reasons & Bases (verbatim excerpts from decision)
The Appellant submitted a medical opinion authored by a private physician, Dr. S.E. in February 2023. The physician indicated that they had fully reviewed the Veteran's claims file. Dr. S.E. recounted, in detail, the Veteran's relevant medical history including the medications she was taking for her various conditions. For example, Dr. S.E. noted a September 2003 treatment note which indicated that the Veteran's hypertension was difficult to treat because of her poor adherence to the medication plan. This poor adherence was attributed, in part, to tiredness and poor concentration due to a combination of the Veteran's other medications including clonidine and hydrocodone. Dr. S.E. opined that it was at least as likely as not that the Veteran's hypertension resulted from the chronic pain from her service-connected musculoskeletal disabilities, as well as from her service-connected MDD. The physician explained that medical research indicates that anxiety and depression are predictive of later incidence of hypertension and prescription treatment for hypertension. Dr. S.E. further opined that it was at least as likely as not that the Veteran's hypertension and MDD proximately caused her CAD.…
Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)
The evidence of record demonstrates that the Veteran's hypertension was incurred in or otherwise the result of military service.
Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)
1. Service connection for coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction (claimed as a heart condition) is granted herein, which constitutes a grant of the full benefit sought on appeal with respect to the claimed heart condition. 2. The Veteran is shown to have hypertension that is proximately due to service-connected disability. 3. The Veteran is shown to have CAD and a history of myocardial infarction that are proximately due to service-connected disability. 4. The Veteran is shown to have degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine, with multilevel DDD and associated posterior disc bulge or disc protrusion, that is proximately due to service-connected disability.…
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How to use these decisions in your claim
- ›The PACT Act of 2022 added hypertension to the Agent Orange presumptive list (38 USC § 1116) — it applies only to herbicide-exposure service, not to the post-9/11 burn-pit list.
- ›VA’s own definition (38 CFR § 4.104, Code 7101, Note 1) is diastolic predominantly 90 or higher, or systolic predominantly 160 or higher, confirmed on at least three different days — in-service readings that meet it can support direct service connection even without a formal diagnosis.
- ›Secondary to PTSD is well-supported by medical literature showing sympathetic-nervous-system hyperactivation.
- ›BVA decisions are non-precedential under 38 CFR § 20.1303 but the Board and rating officials regularly find recent analogous decisions persuasive — especially when your facts materially match.
- ›Paste the suggested-citation line into VA Form 21-4138 (Statement in Support of Claim), then attach the full decision PDF as an exhibit.
More BVA grant guides
BVA decisions are public-record Department of Veterans Affairs rulings. Under 38 CFR § 20.1303 they are non-precedential but may be cited as persuasive evidence of how the Board has treated similar facts. NexusVetClaims provides software, not legal representation. This page shows retrieval output from the nexusvetclaims.com BVA corpus and is updated as new decisions are indexed.