A Harvard study has found that Queens residents have the longest lifespans in the City, and the biggest winners in the lifespan sweepstakes are the borough’s women.

 
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Queens men and women live longer than their neighbors in the four adjoining boroughs, according to a new study released last week by The Harvard School of Public Health.
The surprising statistics from the Cambridge-based institution show that Queens residents have the longest lifespans in the city.
But the biggest winners in the lifespan sweepstakes are the borough’s women who average 78.8 years. That compares with an average 71.2 years for Queens men.
The study shows the shortest lifespans were recorded in The Bronx. There, women averaged 75.1 years, while men survived on the average to 64.6 years. Manhattan men lived to an average of 66.6 years and women to 77.6 years.
Just across the county line in Brooklyn, the Harvard study showed that women live to an average of 76.3 years and men to 67.1 years.
Queens women live even longer on the average than Suffolk County women. The Suffolk women live to 76.6 years and men to 72.6 years.
According to Christopher Murray of the Harvard School of Public Health, the "determinant" for the varying lifespans is largely unclear.
"We believe that in the case of Queens, its higher income and education levels has made a difference."
The study is part of a five-year project. In the next phase, investigators will begin looking into the causes of the variations in life spans.
Murray admitted the statistics were somewhat puzzling.
"How do you explain 16 years’ difference in life expectancy. Some areas with wide divergence are right next to each other. Bronx males, for instance, live nearly 10 years less than Westchester males. The answers could take years to sort out. And then the real question is: What do you do about it?"
Fred Winters, a City Health Dept. spokesperson, had this analysis of the Harvard study:
"Poverty and disease go hand in hand. Obviously, New York City has a disproportionate caseload of several critical diseases, such as AIDS and tuberculosis. Clearly those impact life expectancy."
One clue to Queens’ higher survival rates may be attributed to its relatively low levels of AIDS. City statistics show that Queens had the lowest toll from AIDS in the city. The rate was 29.4 per 100,000 in the borough, as compared with an AIDS death rate of 99.7 in the Bronx.
City health statistics show that, by far, the highest death rates from certain causes are in minority neighborhoods. For example, the highest death rate from AIDS in the city is in central Harlem: 179.2 per 100,000 compared to 67.5 in the city as a whole.
Central Harlem’s death rate from drug related causes was 43.9 — again the highest in the city. The citywide number was 12.9. For homicide, the figures are 39.0 versus 13.9.
The study for the first time highlights some deep regional variations in health that translate into 15 years of additional life expectancy for some areas.