Disability for COPD and Lung Disease. Breathing tests, oxygen levels, and hospital stays.

How Social Security evaluates chronic lung disease

Social Security’s listing for chronic respiratory disorders can be met in any one of four ways: an FEV1 at or below the value in its table for your age, sex, and height; an FVC at or below its table value; impaired gas exchange shown by a DLCO test, arterial blood gases, or oxygen saturation at or below its table values; or exacerbations or complications requiring three hospitalizations within a 12-month period, at least 30 days apart, each lasting at least 48 hours.

When no listing is met

Most claims are decided on residual functional capacity: what you can still do in a work setting despite your symptoms. Social Security then asks whether any jobs fit those limits. For lung disease, the limits are how far you can walk, whether you can climb stairs or carry, your need for supplemental oxygen, and whether you must avoid dust, fumes, heat, and cold.

Evidence that matters

• Spirometry with FEV1 and FVC, before and after a bronchodilator.
• DLCO testing and arterial blood gas or pulse oximetry results.
• Hospital and emergency records for exacerbations.
• Oxygen prescriptions and how many hours a day you use it.
• Pulmonology notes describing shortness of breath with activity.

Ask your doctor to complete the physical impairments form in our free doctor forms. It records your limits in the terms Social Security uses.

Why these claims are denied

• No recent breathing tests in the file.
• Testing done during an exacerbation, which Social Security does not accept.
• Continued smoking noted without any explanation of treatment efforts.
• No description of how far you can walk or what triggers symptoms.

Timing of the breathing test

Social Security will not rely on spirometry done within 2 weeks of a change in your respiratory medication, or within 30 days of finishing treatment for a lung infection or flare. If you are tested at the wrong time, the result may be set aside. Ask your pulmonologist to test when you are stable.

If you are 50 or older

Under Social Security’s grid rules, a person limited to sedentary work at 50, or light work at 55, may be found disabled depending on education and past work.

Next steps

If you have been denied, you have 60 days to appeal. See what to do after a denial in Arizona, SSDI in Arizona, and SSI in Arizona. There is no fee unless benefits are awarded.

J Disability Law Firm, PLLC · Joseph J. Duerst, Attorney · 18444 N. 25th Ave, Suite 420, Phoenix, AZ 85023 · (602) 607-0000. This page is general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different. Past results do not predict the outcome of your case.