20 C.F.R. § 220.110 Listing of Impairments in appendix 1 of this part.
Title 20 - Employees' Benefits
(a) Purpose of the Listing of Impairments. The Listing of Impairments describes, for each of the major body systems, impairments which are considered severe enough to prevent a person from doing any substantial gainful activity. Most of the listed impairments are permanent or expected to result in death, or a specific statement of duration is made. For all others, the evidence must show that the impairment has lasted or is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months. (b) Adult and childhood listings. The Listing of Impairments consists of two parts: (1) Part A contains medical criteria that apply to claimants age 18 and over. The medical criteria in part A may also be applied in evaluating impairments in claimants under age 18 if the disease processes have a similar effect on adults and younger persons. (2) Part B contains additional medical criteria that apply only to the evaluation of impairments of disabled children who are between the ages of 16 and 18. Certain criteria in part A do not give appropriate consideration to the particular effects of the disease processes in childhood: i.e., when the disease process is generally found only in children or when the disease process differs in its effect on children than on adults. Additional criteria are included in part B, and the impairment categories are, to the extent possible, numbered to maintain a relationship with their counterparts in part A. In evaluating disability for a child between 16 and 18, part B will be used first. If the medical criteria in part B do not apply, then the medical criteria in part A will be used. (c) How to use the Listing of Impairments. Each section of the Listing of Impairments has a general introduction containing definitions of key concepts used in that section. Certain specific medical findings, some of which are required in establishing a diagnosis or in confirming the existence of the impairment for the purpose of this Listing, are also given in the narrative introduction. If the medical findings needed to support a diagnosis are not given in the introduction or elsewhere in the Listing, the diagnosis must still be established on the basis of medically acceptable clinical and laboratory techniques. Following the introduction in each section, the required level of severity of impairment is shown under “Category of Impairments” by one or more sets of medical findings. The medical findings consist of symptoms, signs, and laboratory findings. (d) Diagnosis of impairments. The Board will not consider the claimant's impairment to be one listed in appendix 1 of this part solely because it has the diagnosis of a listed impairment. It must also have the findings shown in the Listing of that impairment. (e) Addiction to alcohol or drugs. If a claimant has a condition diagnosed as addiction to alcohol or drugs, this will not, by itself, be a basis for determining whether the claimant is, or is not, disabled. As with any other medical condition, the Board will decide whether the claimant is disabled based on symptoms, signs, and laboratory findings. (f) Symptoms as criteria of listed impairment(s). Some listed impairment(s) include symptoms usually associated with those impairment(s) as criteria. Generally, when a symptom is one of the criteria in a listed impairment, it is only necessary that the symptom be present in combination with the other criteria. It is not necessary, unless the listing specifically states otherwise, to provide information about the intensity, persistence or limiting effects of the symptom as long as all other findings required by the specific listing are present. [56 FR 12980, Mar. 28, 1991, as amended at 68 FR 60291, Oct. 22, 2003]
Title 20: Employees' Benefits
PART 220—DETERMINING DISABILITY
Subpart I—Medical Considerations
§ 220.110 Listing of Impairments in appendix 1 of this part.
