Citation Nr: 18142930
Decision Date: 10/17/18	Archive Date: 10/17/18

DOCKET NO. 16-18 944
DATE:	October 17, 2018
ORDER
Service connection for sleep apnea is granted.
FINDING OF FACT
The Veteran’s sleep apnea incepted during active duty service.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
The criteria are met for service connection for sleep apnea.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303.
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty from August 1984 to January 2013.
Service connection for sleep apnea is granted.
Service connection is granted for any current disability that is the result of a disease contracted or an injury sustained while on active duty service.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a).  Service connection requires competent evidence showing: (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and, (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service.  Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004).
The Veteran is diagnosed with sleep apnea.
His STRs show that he complained of trouble sleeping starting in 2007.  In February 2012, he complained of increased trouble sleeping since returning from deployment, and that he had started snoring.  His wife was noted to have observed the Veteran gasping for air in his sleep.  He was given a sleep study in March 2012, which did not show sleep apnea.  Records show that he continued to have sleep disturbances, although he showed some improvement in sleep with a change in his medication.  He separated in January 2013 without a sleep apnea diagnosis. 
The Veteran’s sleep apnea was shown via diagnostic sleep study in July 2014, less than two years following separation.  He has provided testimony that his symptoms have not changed from those experienced in service, which led to a follow up March 2012 sleep study that was positive for sleep apnea.  His wife has reported that she witnessed the Veteran’s apneic episodes prior to his separation from active duty.  The Board finds the Veteran and his wife competent to report these symptoms, which are observable.  
 
Given the evidence showing persistent symptoms in and since service, and that the eventual diagnosis was made shortly following service (showing a temporal relationship), the Board resolves all doubt in his favor, and finds service connection is warranted for sleep apnea.       

 
Nathaniel J. Doan
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	A. Gibson