Body system 3.00 in the SSA Blue Book covers respiratory disorders for adult (Part A). SSA uses these listings at step 3 of its five-step disability evaluation. If your medical evidence meets one of the listings on this page, your claim is approved without the disability examiner moving on to past-work and labor-market analysis at steps 4 and 5.
Most claimants who do not meet a listing in this body system can still be approved at later steps based on their residual functional capacity, age, education, and past work. The medical evidence you build for a listing-match argument is the same evidence those later steps rely on, so the listing criteria are useful to read even when a claim looks like a step-5 approval candidate.
Body system code
3.00
Part A
Active listings
7
Specific impairments
Audience
Adults 18+
SSA disability evaluation
Step in evaluation
3 of 5
Listing match approves the claim
Active listings under 3.00
Every listing below has current SSA-published criteria. Codes that SSA reserved for future use or has withdrawn since 1985 are not included. Click a listing where a plain-English breakdown is available, or follow the regulation link for SSA's exact text.
| Code | Listing | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| 3.02 | Chronic respiratory disorders due to any cause except CF (for CF, see 3.04 ) with A, B, C, or D | ssa.gov |
| 3.03 | Asthma | ssa.gov |
| 3.04 | Cystic fibrosis | ssa.gov |
| 3.07 | Bronchiectasis | ssa.gov |
| 3.09 | Chronic pulmonary hypertension due to any cause | ssa.gov |
| 3.11 | Lung transplantation | ssa.gov |
| 3.14 | Respiratory failure | ssa.gov |
Source: SSA Blue Book, body system 3.00. Last synced 2026-05-04.
How SSA describes this body system
Excerpted from SSA's regulatory introduction at the top of the body-system page. Full text and all subsection cross-references live on ssa.gov.
A. Which disorders do we evaluate in this body system? We evaluate respiratory disorders that result in obstruction (difficulty moving air out of the lungs) or restriction (difficulty moving air into the lungs), or that interfere with diffusion (gas exchange) across cell membranes in the lungs. Examples of such disorders and the listings we use to evaluate them include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (chronic bronchitis and emphysema, 3.02 ), pulmonary fibrosis and pneumoconiosis ( 3.02 ), asthma ( 3.02 or 3.03 ), cystic fibrosis ( 3.04 ), and bronchiectasis ( 3.02 or 3.07 ). We also use listings in this body system to evaluate respiratory failure ( 3.04D or 3.14 ), chronic pulmonary hypertension ( 3.09 ), and lung transplantation ( 3.11 ). We evaluate cancers affecting the respiratory system under the listings in 13.00 . We evaluate the pulmonary effects of neuromuscular and autoimmune disorders under these listings or under the listings in 11.00 or 14.00 , respectively. B. What are the symptoms and signs of respiratory disorders? Symptoms and signs of respiratory disorders include dyspnea (shortness of breath), chest pain, coughing, wheezing, sputum production, hemoptysis (coughing up blood from the respiratory tract), use of accessory muscles of respiration, and tachypnea (rapid rate of breathing). C. What abbreviations do we use in this body system? ABG means arterial...
Read the full text on the SSA Blue Book 3.00 page.
What happens during a claim under 3.00
The disability examiner assigned to your claim looks for medical records that match the lettered criteria of one of the listings above. The examiner does not diagnose you and does not weigh symptoms in isolation. They line up the listing's required findings against your records and decide whether the records contain enough to satisfy the listing as written.
If your records meet a listing, the claim is approved at step 3. If not, the examiner moves on to evaluating your residual functional capacity (RFC) at steps 4 and 5. RFC is a description of what work activity you can still do despite your impairments. The listings inform the RFC because the same medical evidence the listings ask for is the evidence the examiner uses to write the RFC. The disability overview walks through the full five-step evaluation in plain English.
Work activity, SGA, and the SSDI gate
A claim under any Blue Book listing is denied at step 1 if you are working at or above the substantial gainful activity threshold. SGA is the monthly earnings test SSA applies before any medical evaluation. Earning above SGA in countable work activity means SSA never reaches the listings on this page. Earning below SGA, or being out of work entirely, lets the medical evaluation proceed.
Once you are approved and receiving SSDI, the trial work period and extended period of eligibility apply differently than at the initial-application stage. Both are explained on the SGA amount page with year-by-year thresholds since 1975.
Children's listings for the same body system
SSA publishes a parallel body system at 103.00 for the children's (under 18) side of the same conditions. Many listings cross over with tighter functional thresholds for the children's version. The Respiratory disorders (children) page covers the 6 active listings on that side.