to make a situation more confused and less easy to understand or deal with.

The statistics you quoted didn't prove anything, they simply muddied the waters.

• hit rock bottom
• hit someone between the eyes
• hit someone like a ton of bricks
• hit someone right between the eyes
• hit someone up
• hit someone where it hurts
• hit someone where it hurts most
• hit something hard
• hits the fan
• hit stride
• hit the books
• hit the bottle
• hit the brakes
• hit the brick wall
• hit the buffers
• hit the ceiling
• hit the deck
• hit the dirt
• hit the ground running
• hit the hay
• hit the headlines
• hit the jackpot
• hit the mark
• hit the nail on the head
• hit the panic button