CDC reports acute kidney injury occurred in one third of drug overdose hospitalizations

What was announced

The CDC published an analysis of 1,297,847 hospital admissions between 2016 and 2025 for drug poisonings involving opioids, cocaine, or psychostimulants. Using discharge records from the Premier Healthcare Database, which covers roughly 25% of annual inpatient stays in the United States, researchers tracked acute kidney injury diagnoses.

Overall, 448,136 admissions (34.5%) included acute kidney injury. The percentage of overdose hospitalizations with kidney damage rose from 2016 to 2022 by 2.69% per year, before falling by 5.11% annually through 2025. Severe hospital stays, which the authors defined as requiring dialysis, suffering shock or low blood pressure, having respiratory failure, or dying in the hospital, occurred in 273,093 (60.9%) of the kidney injury admissions. Severe courses rose by 1.82% per year from 2016 to 2023, then fell by 2.89% annually through 2025.

What it means

Acute kidney injury typically occurs in about 20% of general adult hospitalizations, but it appeared in over 34% of these overdose admissions. Older adults had higher overall rates of kidney damage, reaching 37.4% among those aged 65 and older compared to 28.2% among those 24 and younger. Males also had higher rates than females, at 38.1% compared to 29.4%.

Younger patients faced much worse hospital stays once kidney injury occurred. More than two-thirds (68.1%) of patients aged 24 and younger with kidney injury experienced a severe hospital course, compared to 56.1% of patients aged 65 and older. Because younger patients have more years of life ahead, severe kidney injury leaves them at risk for long-term chronic kidney disease and kidney failure. Hospital costs also rise with kidney damage, adding an estimated $1,795 per stay, or $11,016 when a patient needs dialysis.

What the announcement does not tell us

The report does not provide counts for individual patients. The study measured hospital admissions, meaning a single patient who was hospitalized multiple times was counted for each visit.

The authors do not explain why younger patients experienced more severe complications. The report suggests differences in specific illicit drugs or muscle tissue breakdown might contribute, but the data does not confirm why this occurs.

The announcement also does not track what happened to patients after they left the hospital. Although clinical guidelines suggest assessing kidney function within three months after an injury, the study does not show whether these patients received follow-up medical care or recovered their kidney function.