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The research reported in this thesis describes: the prevalence of respiratory symptoms, COPD and cardiovascular problems in rural and urban adults taking account of all major confounding factors; and estimates of exposures, both indoor and outdoor, and assessment of the relationships between measured exposure and health outcomes. A cross-sectional study was conducted in an adult population (16+ years) in Nepal to compare the respiratory and cardiovascular risk of indoor air pollution in a rural population exposed to biomass smoke compared to an urban population using liquefied petroleum gas using an investigator-delivered questionnaire, lung function and blood pressure measurements.  Direct measures of indoor particular exposure (PM_2.5 and CO) and outdoor PM_2.5 were made with other relevant factors obtained by questionnaire. Direct measures of 24-hour indoor PM_2.5were carried out in 245 rural and equal numbers of urban homes. Health outcomes were assessed in 846 rural and 802 urban dwellers.  The main risk factors studied were socio-economic status, smoking, fuel types, stove types, ventilation, BMI, income, ETS and cooking. The result suggests that cooking with biomass is associated with reduced lung function and thus a higher prevalence of COPD in the rural dwellers compared to the non-exposed urban dwellers.  No clear relationship between biomass smoke exposure and cardiovascular endpoints was found although reported cooking with biomass fuel was associated with higher blood pressure and chest pain.  Methodological issues including more invasive assessment of cardiovascular disease will in future studies be important in interpretation of this relationship.

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The present diploma thesis deals with an important and interesting socioenvironmental issue called environmental justice or environmental equity. This issue has been widely studied in the USA and other economically developed countries, but seldom in postcommunist countries in transition. Many studies pointed out uneven distribution of pollution among people with different social status. In this diploma thesis, the relationship between concentrations of three main air-pollutants (NO2, SO2, PM10) and thirteen social, safety and health variables in selected towns in the Czech Republic is described. Factor and cluster analyses were used as the main statistical tools. The results of correlation and factor analysis show, that high concentrations of pollutants from transport (represented by NO2 levels) are typical for citizens with high salary, higher degree of education and for individuals living in big towns. On the other hand, towns with higher concentrations of solid fuels combustion by-products (SO2, PM10) are inhabited by people with lower degree of education and low salary. These towns have usually high emigration rate and high unemployment. The cluster analysis points out, that high traffic-related pollutant concentrations are characteristic mainly for regional centres, in contrary, high levels of...