Allergic Rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis is rated under DC 6522 in 38 CFR § 4.97, and the schedule gives you exactly two compensable numbers. Thirty percent: rhinitis with polyps. Ten percent: no polyps, but with greater than 50 percent obstruction of the nasal passage on both sides, or complete obstruction on one side. That is the whole ladder. There is no 20, no 40, and no 100 for this condition.

Because the rating side is so compressed, the service-connection route matters. Direct service connection covers rhinitis linked to service. The particulate-matter presumption in § 3.320 covers qualifying service in the Southwest Asia theater during the Persian Gulf War and in Afghanistan, Syria, Djibouti, or Uzbekistan on or after September 19, 2001. When the regulation applies, exposure and service connection are presumed subject to its stated exceptions. The PACT Act also lists chronic rhinitis as presumptive at 38 U.S.C. § 1120 for covered veterans defined in § 1119(c), a location list that adds Somalia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Yemen. Secondary service connection covers rhinitis caused or aggravated by another service-connected condition.

This page walks through the two-number schedule, what "greater than 50 percent obstruction" actually requires, the polyp path to 30, the three service-connection lanes with the presumption's boundaries, the rhinitis-sinusitis-septum code boundary, and what the C&P examiner has to write down.

TL;DR

• Allergic or vasomotor rhinitis is rated under DC 6522: 30% with polyps; 10% without polyps with greater than 50-percent obstruction on both sides or complete obstruction on one side; 0% below that.
• "Greater than 50 percent" means strictly more than half. An exam documenting exactly 50 percent obstruction does not meet the 10 percent criteria.
• Rhinitis is on the particulate-matter presumptive list under 38 CFR § 3.320 for specifically defined qualifying service. The presumption is subject to the exceptions in § 3.320(b); veterans should verify the listed locations and service periods rather than assume all post-9/11 or Gulf War service qualifies. Chronic rhinitis is also on the PACT Act list at 38 U.S.C. § 1120, which covers more locations, including Somalia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Yemen.
• Rhinitis is separately ratable from sinusitis (DC 6510 through 6514) and deviated septum (DC 6502); each has its own code and its own criteria.
• The percentage turns on medical evidence showing whether polyps are present and the degree of obstruction on each side; a C&P examination is one possible source of that evidence.
• Thirty percent is the schedular maximum; larger combined ratings come from pairing rhinitis with the conditions around it, not from rhinitis itself.
• No verified Board-outcome statistic specific to allergic rhinitis claims was available, so this page publishes none.

DC 6522: The Two-Number Schedule

The complete rating criteria for allergic or vasomotor rhinitis:

6522 Allergic or vasomotor rhinitis: With polyps, 30% Without polyps, but with greater than 50-percent obstruction of nasal passage on both sides or complete obstruction on one side, 10%

Read it as two independent paths. The polyp path is binary: documented nasal polyps, 30 percent, no obstruction percentage required. The obstruction path is geometric: no polyps, and either both sides blocked more than halfway or one side blocked completely, 10 percent. Below the threshold, a service-connected veteran sits at 0 percent: recognized, but noncompensable.

The words "greater than" do quiet work. The criteria do not say "50 percent or more." An examiner who estimates 50 percent obstruction on both sides has described a veteran who does not meet the 10 percent standard. Examiners who write ranges ("40 to 50 percent") create the same problem. This is why the exam documentation, the per-side percentage estimate, is the entire rating fight on the obstruction path.

The same threshold language appears in the neighboring codes, which is where confusion creeps in. Bacterial rhinitis (DC 6523) uses the same obstruction rule, paired with permanent hypertrophy of the turbinates, and rates rhinoscleroma at 50 percent; it has no polyp criterion. Deviated septum (DC 6502) uses a 50-percent-obstruction standard too, but with the traumatic-origin requirement and a single 10 percent level. Rhinitis is not those codes, and findings can support more than one of them at once, which brings its own rules.

Three Ways In: Direct, Presumptive, Secondary

Direct service connection covers rhinitis that began with in-service exposures: dust, mold, burn pit smoke, chemical irritants, desert sand, unfamiliar allergens at overseas stations. The claim needs in-service treatment or complaints, a current diagnosis (ideally with allergy testing confirming the allergic mechanism), and continuity or a nexus opinion.

The presumptive route is defined in 38 CFR § 3.320. It covers qualifying service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War and in Afghanistan, Syria, Djibouti, or Uzbekistan on or after September 19, 2001. Rhinitis manifested to any degree after separation from a qualifying period of service is presumptively service connected, unless an exception in § 3.320(b) applies. The presumption replaces the ordinary need to prove exposure and medical nexus, but it does not replace proof of the diagnosis and qualifying service. Separately, the PACT Act at 38 U.S.C. § 1120(b)(13) makes chronic rhinitis presumptive for covered veterans under § 1119(c): service on or after August 2, 1990 in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, or the United Arab Emirates, or on or after September 11, 2001 in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Uzbekistan, or Yemen. The presumptive conditions tool helps map the service-location question.

Secondary service connection covers rhinitis driven by another service-connected condition, claimed under 38 CFR § 3.310. The most defensible version is the rhinitis-sinusitis loop: chronic sinusitis and allergic rhinitis aggravate each other, and when one is service-connected the other can sometimes follow. These relationships are never automatic; each needs its own diagnosis and medical opinion.

The Rhinitis, Sinusitis, Septum Boundary

Three conditions share the nose, and veterans routinely file them as one claim. They are three codes with three different criteria.

Rhinitis (6522) is inflammatory: congestion, rhinorrhea, sneezing, itching, postnasal drip, sometimes polyps in chronic cases. Rated on polyps or obstruction.

Sinusitis (6510 through 6514) is sinus infection and inflammation: purulent discharge, facial pain and pressure, incapacitating episodes per year. Rated on episode frequency and severity, up to 50 percent.

Deviated septum (6502) is structural: a traumatic deviation blocking airflow. One rating level, 10 percent, traumatic origin required.

They can coexist and can each be rated when the criteria are separately met, but the same manifestation cannot be counted twice (38 CFR § 4.14). An obstruction finding that is really the septum's deviation belongs to 6502. Purulent sinus infections belong to the sinusitis codes. Allergic inflammation belongs to 6522. The examiner's job is to say which findings belong to which condition, and the file is stronger when each condition's evidence is developed on its own terms.

The C&P Exam: The Whole Rating in One Estimate

The rhinitis DBQ asks the examiner to characterize the condition (allergic, vasomotor, bacterial, granulomatous), to document polyps present or absent, and to estimate obstruction per side. That estimate is the rating. What supports a clean exam:

• ENT documentation of turbinate hypertrophy, mucosal inflammation, and any polyp, with per-side obstruction estimates in the treatment notes, not just on exam day.
• Allergy testing confirming the allergic mechanism (useful for the direct lane and for separating allergic from vasomotor rhinitis, which shares the code).
• Exposure history that matches the service story: deployment locations, documented burn pit or dust exposure, in-service sick-call visits for nasal symptoms.
• Medication history: antihistamines, nasal steroids, immunotherapy, showing chronicity.

The exam failures are predictable: the examiner writes "mild congestion" with no percentage (obstruction path dies), polyps noted in an old ENT report but not confirmed at exam (polyp path wobbles), or the presumptive-service facts never made it into the file (presumptive lane never opens).

Common Failure Modes

Exactly-50 obstruction. The exam documents 50 percent, not greater than 50 percent, and the 10 percent criteria are not met on the text.

Polyps in the history, not in the exam. The 30 percent path needs polyps documented; an old mention without current confirmation is a weak foundation.

Wrong lane. A veteran with qualifying service develops unnecessary nexus evidence, or a veteran outside the defined locations and periods of both § 3.320 and the PACT Act list assumes a presumption applies.

Folding everything into one claim. Rhinitis, sinusitis, and septum filed as one undifferentiated "nose problem," so none of the three criteria sets is cleanly met.

No chronicity evidence. Seasonal sniffles with no treatment trail read as intermittent, and intermittent does not document the persistent condition the direct lane needs.

Secondary Conditions and Neighbors

Rhinitis chains outward in both directions. Downstream, chronic obstruction and mouth breathing feed into sleep disruption, and rhinitis is frequently discussed alongside sleep apnea, though any secondary relationship needs its own evidence. The structural partner is the deviated septum, which blocks airflow by shape rather than inflammation. The sinus partner is sinusitis, and the exposure cousin for post-9/11 veterans is the particulate-presumption family covered by the presumptive conditions tool. Loss of smell sometimes rides along with chronic rhinitis; temporary congestion-related smell reduction is not separately rateable, but a permanent complete loss has its own codes. Code references: /va-codes/6522 and /va-codes/6510. The secondary conditions tool maps the neighborhood.

Bottom Line

Allergic rhinitis tops out at 30 percent, and the rating criteria turn on polyps or obstruction past the strict greater-than-50-percent line. Veterans should check the exact service locations and periods in § 3.320 and in the PACT Act list at 38 U.S.C. § 1120 before relying on a presumption. Otherwise, the record must support direct or secondary service connection. For the percentage, the medical evidence should document polyps, quantify obstruction on each side, and attribute the findings to the correct condition.

Methodology and Limitations

• Data source: Rating criteria paraphrased and quoted from the current eCFR text of 38 CFR § 4.97, DC 6522, with neighbor codes 6510 through 6514 and 6502; presumptive framework from 38 CFR § 3.320 and 38 U.S.C. §§ 1119(c) and 1120(b)(13); secondary service connection from 38 CFR § 3.310; pyramiding from 38 CFR § 4.14. Criteria checked against the eCFR current text on 2026-08-06.
• Board statistics: No verified Board-outcome statistic specific to allergic rhinitis claims was available, and a figure from a different condition would not fit, so this page publishes no outcome statistic.
• Limitations:
• Presumption eligibility depends on individual service records and the covered-location list in the current regulation; this page describes the framework, not a determination for any veteran.
• Obstruction percentages are examiner estimates, and different examiners estimate differently on the same anatomy.
• Whether rhinitis, sinusitis, and septal deviation can be separately rated in a given case depends on the findings and the pyramiding rule as applied by the rater.
• These observations reflect the regulatory text and claim patterns, not legal or medical advice for a specific case.