BVA Case 23-1785: Anxiety

The parties specified that the veteran reported to the June 2011 examiner that he wakes up gasping for air and that his spouse has witnessed him stop breathing in his sleep since separation from service and that the Board failed to discuss the probative value of those statements.

In December 2019,the Board denied service connection for sleep apnea and a back disability.

In June 2022,the Board found the March 2022 opinions adequate as to direct service connection and secondary service connection but remanded the claims for addendum opinions as to obesity.

In the resulting July 2022 opinions,the examiner explained that patellofemoral syndrome, panic and generalized anxiety disorders, lumbar spine disability,and sleep apnea are medically 1 In the December 2022 decision on appeal,the Board found that the RO obtained the SSA records,and the veteran does not challenge this finding.

The examiner noted the prior examiners' attribution of spinal arthritis and sleep apnea to obesity and further noted that obesity is a risk factor for both spinal arthritis and sleep apnea,but did not consider it a risk factor equivalent to causation.

In the December 2022 decision on appeal,the Board found that the veteran has a current lumbar spinal disability and that the August 1996 MEB examination report reflected recurrent back pain during service.

However,the Board also found that the veteran's current lumbar spine disability was not related to his in-service back pain and was not proximately due to or aggravated by his service- connected conditions,R.

at 15,and that his sleep apnea is not related to his active service or secondary to a service-connected disability,R.