Citation Nr: 21023544 Decision Date: 04/20/21 Archive Date: 04/20/21 DOCKET NO. 16-27 583A DATE: April 20, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for a sleep disability, to include upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS), is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s sleep disability was incurred during the Veteran’s active service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for a sleep disability have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1112, 1131, 1137, 5107 (2018); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309 (2020). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active naval service from February 1984 to November 2004. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a December 2014 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). This case was previously before the Board in September 2019, at which time the issue currently before the Board was remanded for additional development. The case has now been returned to the Board for appellate review. Service Connection — Sleep Disability The Veteran asserts that his sleep disability had its onset during active service. Specifically, he contends that his daily fatigue is the result of sleep problems that he developed during active service. The Board notes that the Veteran is competent to report when he first experienced symptoms associated with a later diagnosis of a sleep disability, and that those symptoms have continued since service. Moreover, the Board finds the Veteran credible in that respect. The Veteran’s service treatment records (STRs) show that the Veteran had trouble sleeping for four years marked by an average of 5 hours sleep with frequent waking spells. Post-service evidence of record shows that the Veteran was diagnosed with UARS, based on the results of a sleep study in April 2014. Of record are lay statements from the Veteran in which he reported that he had symptoms of a sleep disability while he was in active service. Specifically, it was reported that the Veteran struggled to fall asleep and felt fatigued, and those symptoms continued and worsened until he was formally diagnosed with UARS in April 2014. Pursuant to the September 2019 Board remand, a January 2020 VA examiner opined that it was less likely as not that the Veteran’s UARS had its onset in, or is otherwise etiologically related to his active duty service, and sleep problems therein. Although there is evidence against the claim, the Board notes that lay evidence can be competent and sufficient to establish a diagnosis of a condition when (1) a layperson is competent to identify the medical condition, (2) the layperson is reporting a contemporaneous medical diagnosis, or (3) lay testimony describing symptoms at the time supports a later diagnosis by a medical professional. In fact, competent medical evidence is not necessarily required when the determinative issue involves either medical etiology or a medical diagnosis. Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2007); Buchanan v. Nicholson, 451 F.3d 1331 (Fed. Cir. 2006). In this case, the Veteran is competent to identify symptoms related to UARS, and report on the chronicity of symptomatology since active service. Moreover, his statements have been found credible. Accordingly, the Board finds that the evidence for and against the claim of entitlement to service connection for a sleep disability is at least in equipoise. Therefore, reasonable doubt must be resolved in favor of the Veteran and entitlement to service connection for a sleep disability is warranted. 38 U.S.C. § 5107 (b) (2012); Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49 (1990). Sonja A. Mishalanie Acting Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board I. Umez-Eronini, Associate Counsel The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.