25% of the Americans reported that they have experienced severe pain which lasted for at least one day, while 1 in 10 US dwellers complained about living for more than a year with severe, persistent pain, according to the Health United States, 2006 governmental annual report on the nation's well-being. On the other hand, researchers involved in the study stated that they were quite in awe when seeing that survey data revealed life expectancy to have increased and even hit a record high. Also, rates of heart disease deaths lowered, though this is the number 1 killer condition in the US. Rates of infant mortality fell down, too.

The survey has been carried out by a team of experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. They highlighted the fact that the average life expectancy is close to 80 years of age according to their findings. Researchers explained: "At birth, life expectancy for females is just over 80 years and nearly 75 for males. The gap in life expectancy between white and black Americans also has narrowed from seven years in 1990 to five years in 2004. Life expectancy at birth reached a record 77.9 years in 2004, up from 77.5 in 2003 and from 75.4 in 1990."

However, a mystery, almost a paradox remains to be unlocked and find explanations for: if the lifespan of Americans has been shown to be longer nowadays, why the rates of persistent, severe pain and, implicitly, that of chronic conditions have increased? This roughly means that US population lives longer, but with more serious conditions and considerably high rates of excruciating pain.

Lead author of the study Amy Bernstein, Chief of the Analytic Studies Branch at the CDC pointed out: "We are living longer, and we have more chronic conditions. Diabetes rates are increasing, obesity rates are increasing. And as people live longer they get more chronic conditions, including pain."

The main target of the investigation was severe pain and researchers wanted to highlight that a continually increasing rate of Americans suffer unbearable pain which may last for longer than one year in many cases. This causes chronic pain to become from a mere symptom of one disease or the other a condition on itself.

"We chose to focus on pain in this report because it is rarely discussed as a condition in and of itself -- it is mostly viewed as a byproduct of another condition. We also chose this topic because the associated costs of pain are posing a great burden on the health care system, and because there are great disparities among different population groups in terms of who suffers from pain. Pain is even more common than people might have thought. But pain is rarely discussed as a condition in and of itself. It is mostly viewed as a symptom of another condition," explained researcher Bernstein.

Statistics showed that low back pain is one of the most popular types of severe, persistent pain, with more than 25% of adults complaining about being actually 'crippled' by low back pain. The team found that migraine and severe headaches come second after low back pain, with 15% of the population experiencing migraine or headaches on a regular basis and over prolonged periods of time.

According to healthday.com, other findings of the annual report conducted and elaborated by CDC experts are:

- Life expectancy reached a record 77.9 years in 2004, up from 77.5 in 2003 and 75.4 in 1990. In addition, since 1990, the gap in life expectancy between men and women has narrowed from seven to just over five years. Among women, life expectancy is just over 80 years and it's almost 75 for men. Also, the gap in life expectancy between white and blacks has narrowed from seven years in 1990 to five years in 2004.

- Infant mortality dropped to 6.8 deaths per 1,000 births in 2004, down from 6.9 deaths per 1,000 births in 2003.

- Heart disease is still the nation's leading killer, but deaths from heart disease fell 16 percent between 2000 and 2004. And deaths from cancer -- the number 2 killer -- fell 8 percent. The death rate for heart disease was 217 deaths per 100,000 in 2004; the death rate for cancer was 186 per 100,000.

- The United States spent an average of $6,280 per person on health care in 2004. However, 7 percent of people under 65 said they didn't get needed care in the past year because of the cost.

- Diabetes continues to be a growing threat, especially among older adults. Eleven percent of adults aged 40 to 59 and 23 percent of those 60 and older have diabetes.