Regression tree modelling to predict total average extra costs in household spending during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background Prevention of coronavirus (COVID-19) regarding households has many aspects, such as buying mask, hand sanitizer, face shield, and many others. As a result of buying the previous items, the household spending per month will increase during the COVID-19 pandemic period. This study aimed to calculate the average costs of each extra item involved in households spending during COVID-19 pandemic and to predict the total average extra costs spending by households. Results Most of the respondents were females (81%) and aged between 30 and 40 (56.3%). About 63.1% of families had the same monthly income while 35.4% had a decrease in monthly income. A significant reduction in days of leaving home before and after COVID-19 pandemic was observed (before; median\u2009=\u20096, after; median\u2009=\u20095, P \u2009=\u2009\u2009<\u20090.001). The extra spending in grocery was the dominated item compared to other items (mean\u2009=\u2009707.2 L.E./month, SD\u2009=\u2009530.7). Regarding regression tree, the maximum average extra costs due to COVID-19 pandemic were 1386 L.E./month (around 88.56$/month (1$—>\u200915.65L.E.)) while the minimum average extra costs were 217 L.E./month (around 13.86$/month). Conclusions The effect of COVID-19 pandemic in households spending varies largely between households, it depends on what they do to prevent COVID-19.