Geographica 44/2 (2013)

Acta Universitatis Palackianae Olomucensis Facultas Rerum Naturalium December 2013 Geographica 44 | 2
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Air quality assessment as an environmental factor of the quality of life

Martin Jurek, Lenka Matúšová, Aleš Létal

Full text: PDF colour (1 MB), PDF press (1 MB)

Received: November 29, 2013
Accepted: December 17, 2013

Abstract
This paper proposes a tool for air quality assessment that could be used among environmental factors in the studies of quality of life. It also demonstrates performance of a set of air quality related questions that might be considered part of questionnaire surveys for the subjective dimension of the quality of life. A measure of relative risk of exposure to particulate matter is proposed for quantification of adverse health effects of air pollution on the general population, on children under 5 years of age or on persons over 30 years of age. The city of Ostrava was selected as a study area for its long-term issues with air pollution in order to test the proposed instruments in a location where air quality is the most likely to affect the quality of life in the Czech Republic.

Key words
air quality, quality of life, relative risk, questionnaire survey, Ostrava