Current as of September 28, 2026. General information, not legal or medical advice.
Short answer: Not for low testosterone by itself. The rating schedule has no diagnostic code for it, so on its own it rates zero. Where veterans actually win is a different claim: if you have a service-connected moderate or severe TBI, the rules hold hormone deficiency to be caused by that TBI, and the other pituitary axes that fail alongside testosterone do carry real percentages.
Why the straight claim goes nowhere
The endocrine section of the rating schedule runs from diagnostic code 7900 to 7919. There is a code for hyperpituitarism, meaning the pituitary producing too much. There is no code for the pituitary producing too little.
So a low testosterone claim gets rated by analogy to something else, and when the requirements for a compensable rating are not met, the rules assign zero percent by default.
It gets worse before it gets better. Erectile dysfunction, the residual most men file alongside this, was changed in September 2021 to read "with or without penile deformity" at zero percent. There is no compensable rating available under that code at all.
That is the part most articles stop at. It is also the least useful part.
The rule worth knowing
If you have a service-connected traumatic brain injury, the regulations list conditions that are held to be the proximate result of that TBI in the absence of clear evidence to the contrary. One of them is diseases of hormone deficiency that result from hypothalamo-pituitary changes, if they show up within 12 months of a moderate or severe TBI.
Read that again. Held to be the result, absent clear evidence otherwise. That is close to a presumption, and it is written into the regulation.
VA's own adjudication manual spells out what counts: any condition in the endocrine section of the rating schedule, or any condition evaluated by analogy to one of those. That analogy language is the bridge your low testosterone claim needs.
The manual also tells adjudicators that if one of these conditions turns up in the record while they are working a different claim, a claim for the secondary condition must be invited.
If you miss the 12-month window
The 12 months and the moderate-or-severe threshold are a floor, not a ceiling. The same regulation says neither the severity levels nor the time limits preclude service connection for conditions shown by evidence to be proximately due to a service-connected TBI, and that VA will develop those claims under ordinary principles instead.
Mild TBI, or a deficiency that showed up in year three, is a harder claim. It is not a barred one.
What actually carries a percentage
If a head injury damaged your pituitary, testosterone is rarely the only thing it hit. Across the research the gonadal axis is involved in roughly 16 percent of cases, growth hormone in about 18, ACTH in about 10.
The other axes are where the compensable ratings live. Hypothyroidism without myxedema carries 30 percent. Adrenocortical insufficiency carries 20 on weakness and fatigability, or where corticosteroid therapy is required, and can run higher. Diabetes insipidus carries 30 for the first three months and 10 with persistent symptoms or continuous hormonal therapy.
There is also special monthly compensation for loss or loss of use of a creative organ, which runs $139.87 a month at the rate effective December 1, 2025. It requires actual anatomical loss or measured loss of use. Being on testosterone therapy does not qualify you for it.
The rating rules also say to evaluate each TBI residual separately as long as the same symptoms are not counted twice. If your fatigue and low libido were swept into the subjective-symptoms facet of your TBI rating while a distinct endocrine diagnosis sits behind them, that is worth a look.
Why the labs usually do not exist
Here is the practical obstacle. The VA and DoD clinical practice guideline for mild TBI, still at version 3.0 from June 2021, does not mention the pituitary, hypopituitarism, hypogonadism or testosterone anywhere in its recommendations. Neuroendocrine disorders appear in one place only: the section listing research priorities.
So there is no guideline telling anyone to check your pituitary after a concussion. If nobody ordered the labs, there is nothing in your file to service connect.
The only formal consensus statement on this recommends systematic screening of pituitary function for all patients with moderate to severe TBI at risk of deficits. That is a 2005 document, and it is not VA policy.
Meanwhile the prevalence research is consistent. A 2007 analysis of 19 studies found hypopituitarism in 27.5 percent of patients in the chronic phase after TBI. A 2020 analysis of 29 studies found 32 percent. A 2024 analysis of 52 studies and more than 7,000 patients found 33 percent.
At a VA hospital in Puget Sound, 42 percent of blast mild-TBI veterans screened abnormal on one or more pituitary axes in one study, and 31 percent in another, against 15 percent of deployed controls. Those authors recommended routine post-deployment neuroendocrine screening.
What to do with this
Get the labs. Morning, fasting, and the full picture rather than testosterone alone: LH, FSH, prolactin, thyroid and morning cortisol. That is the evidence a claim runs on, and you can obtain it whether or not anyone offers.
File the secondary claim against the TBI, not a standalone low testosterone claim.
Work with an accredited representative or a Veterans Service Organization. They do this every day, they are free, and this is genuinely not a do-it-yourself area.
And if you are still in, the window matters. Benefits Delivery at Discharge takes claims from 180 to 90 days before separation.
Questions people actually ask
Is there a VA rating for low testosterone? No. The endocrine rating schedule has no diagnostic code for it. Rated by analogy, it defaults to zero percent.
Can I claim it secondary to my TBI? Yes, and that is the strong path. Hormone deficiency from hypothalamo-pituitary changes is held to be the result of a service-connected TBI if it appears within 12 months of a moderate or severe injury.
What if my TBI was mild? The presumption does not apply, but the same regulation says the limits do not preclude service connection proven by evidence.
Does erectile dysfunction pay? Not on its own. That code is zero percent with or without deformity. Look at special monthly compensation instead.
Why has nobody tested my pituitary? Because the VA and DoD mild TBI guideline makes no recommendation either way. It lists the question as an unresolved evidence gap.
Where we fit
We are a cash-pay practice, so we are not in the claims business and we do not sell rating outcomes. What we do is run the full panel that a claim needs and that the system rarely orders on its own: two early-morning fasting draws, LH and FSH, prolactin, thyroid and cortisol, read by a provider with time to read them.
You keep those results whatever you do with them.
Discounted pricing for military, law enforcement and first responders. Request a consultation at hewhealth.com or call (850) 820-8850.
Hew Health, LLC is a private medical practice. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense. This article is general information about public regulations as of September 28, 2026 and is not legal, medical or benefits advice. For claims help use a VA-accredited representative or a Veterans Service Organization. Testosterone is a Schedule III controlled substance. FDA-approved testosterone products are indicated for men with low testosterone caused by an associated medical condition, and none are approved for men with low testosterone who lack an associated medical condition.
Sources: 38 CFR 3.310(a), (b) and (d); 38 CFR 4.119 diagnostic codes 7900-7919; 38 CFR 4.20, 4.27 and 4.31; 38 CFR 4.115b diagnostic codes 7522, 7523 and 7524, as amended at 86 FR 54086 (September 30, 2021); 38 CFR 4.124a diagnostic code 8045; 38 CFR 3.350(a)(1). M21-1 Part V, Subpart iii, Chapter 12, Section B, Topic 3. VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management and Rehabilitation of Post-Acute Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, version 3.0, June 2021. Schneider et al., JAMA 2007 (PMID 17895459); Emelifeonwu et al., J Neurotrauma 2020 (PMID 31111791); 2024 systematic review (PMID 39527353); Wilkinson et al., Front Neurol 2012 (PMID 22347210); Undurti et al., Front Neurol 2018 (PMID 29515515); Ghigo et al., Brain Inj 2005 (PMID 16195185). VA special monthly compensation rates effective December 1, 2025.