(a) General. In this section, we explain how we consider age when we decide whether you are disabled. Your age may or may not be a factor in our determination whether your impairment(s) meets or medically equals a listing, depending on the listing we use for comparison. However, your age is an important factor when we decide whether your impairment(s) is severe (see § 416.924(c)) and whether it functionally equals the listings (see § 416.926a). Except in the case of certain premature infants, as described in paragraph (b) of this section, age means chronological age.
(1) When we determine whether you have an impairment or combination of impairments that is severe, we will compare your functioning to that of children your age who do not have impairments.
(2) When we determine whether your impairment(s) meets a listing, we may or may not need to consider your age. The listings describe impairments that we consider of such significance that they are presumed to cause marked and severe functional limitations.
(i) If the listing appropriate for evaluating your impairment is divided into specific age categories, we will evaluate your impairment according to your age when we decide whether your impairment meets that listing.
(ii) If the listing appropriate for evaluating your impairment does not include specific age categories, we will decide whether your impairment meets the listing without giving consideration to your age.
(3) When we compare an unlisted impairment or a combination of impairments with the listings to determine whether it medically equals the severity of a listing, the way we consider your age will depend on the listing we use for comparison. We will use the same principles for considering your age as in paragraphs (a)(2)(i) and (a)(2)(ii) of this section; that is, we will consider your age only if we are comparing your impairment(s) to a listing that includes specific age categories.
(4) We will also consider your age and whether it affects your ability to be tested. If your impairment(s) is not amenable to formal testing because of your age, we will consider all information in your case record that helps us decide whether you are disabled. We will consider other generally acceptable methods consistent with the prevailing state of medical knowledge and clinical practice that will help us evaluate the existence and severity of your impairment(s).
(b) Correcting chronological age of premature infants. We generally use chronological age (a child's age based on birth date) when we decide whether, or the extent to which, a physical or mental impairment or combination of impairments causes functional limitations. However, if you were born prematurely, we may consider you younger than your chronological age when we evaluate your development. We may use a “corrected” chronological age (CCA); that is, your chronological age adjusted by a period of gestational prematurity. We consider an infant born at less than 37 weeks' gestation to be born prematurely.
(1) We compute your CCA by subtracting the number of weeks of prematurity (the difference between 40 weeks of full-term gestation and the number of actual weeks of gestation) from your chronological age. For example, if your chronological age is 20 weeks but you were born at 32 weeks gestation (8 weeks premature), then your CCA is 12 weeks.
(2) We evaluate developmental delay in a premature child until the child's prematurity is no longer a relevant factor, generally no later than about chronological age 2.
(i) If you have not attained age 1 and were born prematurely, we will assess your development using your CCA.
(ii) If you are over age 1 and have a developmental delay, and prematurity is still a relevant factor, we will decide whether to correct your chronological age. We will base our decision on our judgment and all the facts in your case. If we decide to correct your chronological age, we may correct it by subtracting the full number of weeks of prematurity or a lesser number of weeks. If your developmental delay is the result of your medically determinable impairment(s) and is not attributable to your prematurity, we will decide not to correct your chronological age.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, we will not compute a corrected chronological age if the medical evidence shows that your medical source has already considered your prematurity in his or her assessment of your development. We will not compute a CCA when we find you disabled under listing 100.04 of the Listing of Impairments.
[65 FR 54778, Sept. 11, 2000, as amended at 72 FR 59431, Oct. 19, 2007; 80 FR 19529, Apr. 13, 2015; 82 FR 5880, Jan. 18, 2017]