Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the extent to which Korean Medicine doctors consider cold and heat pattern identification when prescribing herbal treatment for disease.

Methods: A survey was sent by email to 15,841 members of the Association of Korean Medicine for whom member information was registered. Of these, 699 (4.4%) participated in the survey. The survey included questions regarding the frequency of use of cold and heat pattern identification in deciding on a herbal treatment prescription, the diseases for which cold and heat pattern identification-related herbal treatment was most efficacious, the kind of herbal treatment prescribed, and the duration of treatment.

Results: Of the 699 respondents, 591 (84.5%) reported that they consider cold and heat when prescribing herbal treatment. Diseases for which consideration of cold and heat patterns was effective were, in order, menopausal disorder (124, 18.3%), chronic rhinitis (98, 14.5%), dyspepsia (94, 13.9%), hwa-byung (92, 13.6%), diarrhea (83, 12.3%), dysmenorrhea (61, 9.0%), headache (59, 8.7%), inflammation in the digestive tract (58, 8.6%), coldness in hands and feet (58, 8.6%), and atopic dermatitis (55, 8.1%). The typical treatment duration differed widely for different disease: atopic dermatitis was most frequently treated for "more than 2 months" (38, 34.5%), whereas diarrhea was most frequently treated for "10 days or less" (73, 43.6%)