This is a serious claim and a well-travelled one. The Statement of Principles contains 106 factors, and the routes veterans most often meet are indirect: through accepted post-traumatic stress disorder or depressive disorder, through smoking established in service, or through hypertension and diabetes.
Why it shows up in veterans
Long-term psychological conditions, smoking patterns established during service, hypertension, diabetes, obesity following career-ending injury, and the sedentary years that follow chronic pain all contribute. The connection is rarely a single event; it is the accumulation.
What the Statement of Principles requires
DVA measures every claim against a Statement of Principles (SoP) — a legally binding instrument setting out the only factors that can connect a condition to service. These are the pathways that most often apply, in plain language; the full instrument is linked below.
Specified psychiatric conditions
Post-traumatic stress disorder and certain other psychiatric conditions are listed factors, which is why an accepted mental health condition matters here.
Smoking
Defined smoking histories are listed factors, and service is frequently where the habit was established and sustained.
Hypertension, diabetes and lipid disorders
Each is a listed factor where present at the relevant time — and each may itself be claimable.
Inability to obtain appropriate clinical management
Where risk factors went unmonitored or untreated because of service circumstances.
This is the plain-English version. Read every factor of the Ischaemic heart disease Statement of Principles exactly as the Repatriation Medical Authority wrote it.
How DVA approaches the impairment assessment
Impairment is rated on cardiac function and exercise tolerance — what you can do before symptoms stop you — supported by objective testing. Angiography, stress testing and echocardiography reports do the heavy lifting, along with the record of any infarction, stenting or bypass surgery.
The evidence that decides it
Most initial liability decisions currently take DVA around 145 days on average, and roughly a third of that is the Department waiting on information. Lodging complete is the single biggest thing within your control.
- Cardiology reports, angiography and stress test results
- Records of any infarction, stenting or bypass surgery
- Evidence of accepted psychiatric conditions, hypertension or diabetes
- Smoking history as documented in service records
Questions veterans ask about Ischaemic Heart Disease
I have had a stent. Does that reduce the claim?
No. Treatment does not undo the condition. Impairment is rated on residual cardiac function and exercise tolerance after treatment.
My PTSD is accepted. Is that relevant to a heart claim?
Very. Specified psychiatric conditions are listed factors in the ischaemic heart disease SoP, and an existing acceptance is strong evidentiary ground.
Related conditions
Cardiac disease sits within a cluster of metabolic and psychological conditions, each separately claimable.
Ready to look into a Ischaemic Heart Disease claim?
Book a no-obligation consult and we will go through whether your circumstances meet the SoP factors, what evidence would strengthen your case, and what to expect next.
This page is general information, not medical, legal, or financial advice. Statement of Principles factors, thresholds, and program details are current as at the update date above but can change — always confirm against your own determination letter and the current SoP instrument. For medical concerns, speak with a qualified health professional; for legal advice, a solicitor experienced in military compensation law.
