Evidence is not a checklist where every claim needs every document. Its relevance depends on the issue VA is deciding and what the existing record already establishes. Review the 9 primary evidence categories recognized under Title 38 CFR below.
Disability Benefits Questionnaires (DBQs)
Condition-focused forms used to collect medical information relevant to a disability claim.
Common relevance: A DBQ may organize diagnosis, symptoms, measurements, treatment, and functional findings for VA review.
Service treatment records
Medical records created during military service.
Common relevance: They may document an in-service event, symptoms, treatment, diagnosis, or the history of a condition.
Private medical records
Records from non-VA clinicians, hospitals, imaging centers, or laboratories.
Common relevance: They may document diagnosis, treatment, severity, testing, or changes that are not in VA records.
VA treatment records
Records from care received through VA health services.
Common relevance: VA may obtain these records as part of its duty to assist, but veterans should still verify what evidence is listed.
Medical nexus opinions
A medical opinion that addresses a possible relationship between a condition and military service or another condition.
Common relevance: An opinion may be relevant when the relationship is a disputed or missing part of the claim; it is not automatically required in every case.
Lay statements
A veteran's or another person's written account of events, symptoms, or observable effects.
Common relevance: Lay evidence can describe facts the writer personally observed, even when the writer has no medical training.
Buddy statements
A type of lay statement from someone with firsthand knowledge of an event, symptom, or change.
Common relevance: They may help explain when something occurred or what another person directly observed.
Imaging
X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, and related reports.
Common relevance: Imaging may document anatomy or diagnosis, but its importance depends on the issue and criteria being reviewed.
Laboratory testing
Blood work, pulmonary testing, pathology, and other measured test results.
Common relevance: Testing may clarify a diagnosis or an objective finding when the applicable issue depends on that information.