Quantifying effects of the European Health Data Space on the app ecosystem and data access.

Stefanie Brückner, Ronja Riedel, Sven Hetmank, Kyra Fritsch, Oscar Freyer, Stephen Gilbert

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in NPJ digital medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Stefanie BrücknerElse Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. stefanie.brueckner@ukdd.de.

Ronja RiedelInstitute of International Law, Intellectual Property and Technology Law, TUD Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany.

Sven HetmankInstitute of International Law, Intellectual Property and Technology Law, TUD Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany.

Kyra FritschElse Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.

Oscar FreyerElse Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.

Stephen GilbertElse Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.

Funding

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung 16KISA100K

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Access to patient-generated health data from mobile apps and wearables is increasingly central to connected care. The European Health Data Space (EHDS) introduces app providers as health data holders with obligations to share data for patient care and secondary use. We mapped EHDS health data holder criteria and applied them to a systematic review of 100 health apps, using privacy policies and related public sources to identify disclosed health data types and processing purposes. Overall, 18% of apps could qualify under the Personal Health Data Pathway and 21% under the Anonymous Health Data Pathway. Extrapolated to the currently globally available 337,000 health apps in app stores, more than 60,700 and 70,800 app providers could qualify. This suggests that a substantial share of consumer health apps may become integrated into the regulated EHDS secondary-use ecosystem. The scale of data availability will depend on enforcement and how providers adapt their data practices.

Identifiers

PMID42321499

DOI10.1038/s41746-026-02917-7

PMCPMC13282400

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.