What can I claim secondary to ankylosing spondylitis?
7 conditions in the Repatriation Medical Authority's Statements of Principles list ankylosing spondylitis as a factor. If DVA has accepted your ankylosing spondylitis, each of these has a documented pathway to a further claim.
At a glance
- Accepted conditionAnkylosing spondylitis
- Conditions it may open7
- SourceRMA SoPs
- Chart Review$600 + GST
How a secondary claim works
Some Statement of Principles factors are not about service at all — they name another condition. Where DVA has already accepted your ankylosing spondylitis, and another condition's SoP lists ankylosing spondylitis as a factor, that part of the next claim is already established on your file. How a secondary claim works, in full →
Conditions that list ankylosing spondylitis as a factor
Quoted from the instrument. A pathway existing is not the same as a claim succeeding — each factor carries thresholds your record has to satisfy.
Cerebrovascular accident (stroke)
RH No. 45 of 2024 · BoP No. 46 of 2024
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (10): “having one of the following systemic inflammatory disorders causing cerebral vasculitis at the time of clinical onset: (a) ankylosing spondylitis; (b) dermatomyositis; (c) inclusion body myositis; (d) polymyositis; (e) psoriatic arthritis; (f) rheumatoid arthritis; (g) systemic sclerosis (scleroderma); (h) Sjögren syndrome; or (i) systemic lupus erythematosus” [clinical onset]
Balance of Probabilities — factor (10): “having one of the following systemic inflammatory disorders causing cerebral vasculitis at the time of clinical onset: (a) ankylosing spondylitis; (b) dermatomyositis; (c) inclusion body myositis; (d) polymyositis; (e) psoriatic arthritis; (f) rheumatoid arthritis; (g) systemic sclerosis (scleroderma); (h) Sjögren syndrome; or (i) systemic lupus erythematosus” [clinical onset]
Ischaemic heart disease
RH No. 27 of 2025 · BoP No. 28 of 2025
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (25): “having one of the following systemic inflammatory rheumatological diseases at the time of clinical onset or clinical worsening: (a) ankylosing spondylitis; (b) dermatomyositis; (c) inflammatory bowel disease; (d) polymyositis; (e) psoriasis; (f) psoriatic arthritis; (g) rheumatoid arthritis; (h) Sjögren syndrome; (i) systemic lupus erythematosus; (j) systemic sclerosis” [onset and worsening]
This factor appears in the Reasonable Hypothesis instrument only, which applies to operational service.
Meniere disease and meniere syndrome
RH No. 68 of 2024 · BoP No. 69 of 2024
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (3): “having any of the following autoimmune diseases before clinical onset; (a) ankylosing spondylitis; (b) Hashimoto thyroiditis; (c) rheumatoid arthritis; (d) systemic lupus erythematosus; (e) Cogan syndrome; (f) Susac syndrome; (g) Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome; or (h) psoriatic arthritis” [clinical onset]
This factor appears in the Reasonable Hypothesis instrument only, which applies to operational service.
Osteoporosis
RH No. 66 of 2024
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (2): “having one of the following autoimmune diseases for at least the 1 year before clinical onset or clinical worsening; (a) ankylosing spondylitis; (b) dermatomyositis; (c) psoriatic arthritis; (d) rheumatoid arthritis; (e) systemic lupus erythematosus; or (f) systemic sclerosis” [onset and worsening]
This factor appears in the Reasonable Hypothesis instrument only, which applies to operational service.
Pathological fracture
RH No. 64 of 2024 · BoP No. 65 of 2024
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (2): “having ankylosing spondylitis at the time of clinical onset of vertebral pathological fracture” [clinical onset]
Balance of Probabilities — factor (2): “having ankylosing spondylitis at the time of clinical onset of vertebral pathological fracture” [clinical onset]
Spinal adhesive arachnoiditis
RH No. 74 of 2020 · BoP No. 75 of 2020
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (15): “having ankylosing spondylitis involving the affected site before the clinical onset of spinal adhesive arachnoiditis” [clinical onset] — factor (31): “having ankylosing spondylitis involving the affected site before the clinical worsening of spinal adhesive arachnoiditis” [worsening]
This factor appears in the Reasonable Hypothesis instrument only, which applies to operational service.
Varicocoele
RH No. 79 of 2019 · BoP No. 80 of 2019
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (4): “having ankylosing spondylitis at the time of the clinical onset of varicocoele” [clinical onset] — factor (9): “having ankylosing spondylitis at the time of the clinical worsening of varicocoele” [worsening]
Balance of Probabilities — factor (4): “having ankylosing spondylitis at the time of the clinical onset of varicocoele” [clinical onset] — factor (8): “having ankylosing spondylitis at the time of the clinical worsening of varicocoele” [worsening]
Other accepted conditions that also open cerebrovascular accident (stroke)
If any of these is also on your file, it reaches some of the same conditions ankylosing spondylitis does.
What DVA means by ankylosing spondylitis
A claim is tested against the definition first. If the diagnosis on your file does not meet this wording, the factors below never get reached — so it is worth checking that what your doctor wrote matches what the instrument requires.
Ankylosing spondylitis, for the purposes of the Statement of Principles, for the purposes of this Statement of Principles, ankylosing spondylitis: (a) means a chronic, progressive, systemic inflammatory disease principally involving the sacroiliac joints and the axial skeleton; and (b) excludes psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis and fibromyalgia.
Note the exclusion. This instrument expressly excludes psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis and Fibromyalgia. A diagnosis of that is not a diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis, and a claim framed the wrong way fails on the definition before any factor is considered.
Aggravation-only factors. In this instrument, subsections 9(2) to 9(5) apply only to material contribution to, or aggravation of, ankylosing spondylitis where it was already present before or during service. If service caused ankylosing spondylitis outright, those factors are not available to you.
RH No. 39 of 2021 · BoP No. 40 of 2021 · 2 factors
What could support a claim for ankylosing spondylitis?
The Statement of Principles for ankylosing spondylitis names 1 other condition among its own factors. If any of these is already accepted on your file, it may be the factor that carries a ankylosing spondylitis claim — quoted here from the instrument.
Periodontitis
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (1): “having periodontitis for at least the three months before the clinical onset of ankylosing spondylitis” [clinical onset]
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (2): “having periodontitis for at least the three months before the clinical worsening of ankylosing spondylitis” [worsening]
Reviewed by Dr Thomas Perkins
Founding doctor, Veterans Health Centre · former RAAF aviation medical officer · 13 years working exclusively with ADF members and veterans. Full profile →
Ankylosing spondylitis accepted?
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