Advance File PhotoStaten Islanders face higher rates of smoking, heart disease and cancer than other boroughs.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Islanders aren’t living as long as most residents in the other four boroughs — or in the state as a whole.

While expanded HIV testing and treatment and smoking-prevention programs have dramatically increased men’s life expectancy rates in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx, the Island hasn’t kept pace, statistics show.

In 2007, the life expectancy for Staten Islanders was 76.6 years for men and 81.4 years for women, according to a recently released study by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

The Island placed fourth among the five boroughs for both men and women for life expectancy in 2007. It was last in the city for the percentage of increase in life expectancy between 1987 and 2007 — an 8.8 percent bump (from 70.4 years to 76.6 years) for men and a 4.9 increase (from 77.6 years to 81.4 years) for women.

The survey reviewed data for every county in the country for 1987, 1997 and 2007. Life expectancy means residents of a community who reach that community’s life expectancy age in a given year aren’t anticipated, on average, to surpass it.

“I’d say it’s reflective of the fact that we had a high rate of smoking and heart disease and cancer,” said Dr. Mark Jarrett, chief medical officer of Staten Island University Hospital.

The borough, in 2009, had the highest death rates per 100,000 people among the five boroughs for heart disease, cancer, pneumonia and chronic lower respiratory disease, Health Department statistics show.

While officials say smoking rates on Staten Island dropped in 2010 to match the citywide numbers, and the heart-disease death rate has improved, Dr. Jarrett said he doesn’t expect life-expectancy rates here to be immediately impacted.

“We’re still going to see an affect of lifestyle on life expectancy for another five years or so,” he said.

The study didn’t break down life expectancy by neighborhood, but Dr. Edward R. Arsura said residents in some poorer North Shore communities typically don’t live as long as those elsewhere in the borough.

He cited a higher incidence of untreated ailments such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, less access to health care and rising medical costs as major concerns.

“Those patients have a lower life expectancy,” said Dr. Arsura, chief medical officer of Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton. “I can see where the cost of health care can be problematic for many individuals. I don’t think you can blame this on the economy, but we do see that patients aren’t following through” in seeking treatment or getting needed medicine.

On the other hand, patients with lower insurance co-payments are more likely to get the treatment and medicine they need, he said.

To increase health-care access, RUMC is trying to expand its care from hospital-based clinics out into the community, he said.

Even so, Staten Island lags behind its intra-city counterparts.

According to the University of Washington study, men’s life expectancy in 2007 in Queens was 79 years; Manhattan, 78.7; Brooklyn, 76.8, and New York state, 77.3, compared to Staten Island’s 76.6 years. Manhattan enjoyed the biggest percentage increase in men’s life expectancy — 19.6 percent — between 1987 and 2007, largely due to expansion of HIV testing and treatment, officials said.

Brooklyn followed with a 14.6 percent increase, and the Bronx came next with a 14 percent increase over those two decades.

Women’s life expectancy in the five boroughs was highest in 2007 in Queens and Manhattan, 83.7 years each, followed by Brooklyn, 82.3; Staten Island, 81.4, and the Bronx, 80.5. The state average was 82.1 years.

Manhattan again placed first in the city with a 9.3 percent increase in life expectancy between 1987 and 2007.

Dr. Giovannie Jean-Baptiste, president of the Richmond County Medical Society, cautioned against reading too much into the numbers.

“I think everything we’re seeing is open to interpretation. It looks like we’re not changing on Staten Island, but the other boroughs are catching up to what’s normal here,” she said. “I don’t think that’s a detrimental thing. I would be interested to have studies to see what the other boroughs are doing.”

In the meantime, Dr. Jean-Baptiste said medical professionals are striving to be pro-active. Efforts are under way to increase awareness, especially among teens, of the dangers of smoking and of prescription-drug and alcohol abuse, she said.

Dr. Jarrett said it’s critical for Islanders to take charge of their own health.

In his opinion, lower life-expectancy here isn’t so much a reflection of health-care access as it is lifestyle choices and perhaps, other issues, such as the environment.

Staten Island sits exposed to wind-borne soot from oil refineries and factories in New Jersey, fumes from barges and ferries in New York Harbor and exhaust from the vehicles that clog borough roads and highways. The particulate pollution in the air has been connected to heart attacks, lung cancer and asthma attacks.

In addition, the Fresh Kills landfill, which closed in 2001, accepted all of New York City’s trash for more than a half-century.

Dr. Jarrett stressed the need for annual physical check-ups and screenings, such as colonoscopies, to nip potential medical problems in the bud.

“I think these lifestyle issues are what we have the most control over,” he said. “I think we can look at Staten Island catching up to the rest of the city [in life expectancy] within 10 years.”