A Comparative Analysis of Opioid Overdose Hospitalizations Pre- and Post-Pandemic: Insights from the National Inpatient Sample Database.

Among 293,810 hospitalizations, intentional overdoses decreased over time, while unintentional overdoses remained predominant.

Intentional overdoses were more common among younger females and associated with better clinical outcomes.

Compared with unintentional overdoses, intentional cases had lower odds of in-hospital mortality (1.86% vs 4.90%; aOR 0.47, 95% CI 0.40-0.55), sudden cardiac arrest (aOR 0.26, 95% CI 0.22-0.31), invasive ventilation (aOR 0.80, 95% CI 0.76-0.85), and anoxic brain injury (aOR 0.41, 95% CI 0.35-0.47).