The field of Personal Health Data Spaces (PHDSs) is becoming increasingly significant in the realm of healthcare as a pivotal tool for facilitating secure, patient-centered continuity of care. Unlike the conventional Electronic Health Records, PHDSs empower individuals by granting them ownership and control over their health information, extending across various institutional and national terrains. They present a potential solution to harmonize a spectrum of data sources - ranging from clinical records, and genomics, to wearable sensor data and patient-reported outcomes - into an integrated framework. This empowers patients while simultaneously offering support to clinicians, researchers, and health system operations. Despite its promise, the path toward widespread PHDSs implementation is dotted with considerable challenges such as fragmented governance models, insufficient standardization, lack of patients' digital literacy, and the technical complexities associated with achieving semantic interoperability across diverse systems. Additionally, the debate over data custody, trust, and security remains pivotal, particularly pertinent to the decentralized distribution and secondary use of sensitive personal health data such as in research. Furthermore, regulatory disparities, exemplified by contrasting approaches like the European Health Data Space initiative, pose significant barriers to the continuance and integration of cross-border care.

This Research Topic seeks to unify existing knowledge and innovative strategies addressing these challenges. The objective is to spotlight both practical solutions and conceptual models that cater to PHDS development, while offering a critical assessment of technological, policy-related, ethical, and user-adoption constraints. Special focus will be given to technical enablers like content-addressable storage and knowledge graph architectures, as well as socio-legal facets covering patient agency, informed consent, and governance frameworks.

To gather further insights in advancing PHDSs, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Architectures and infrastructures for personal health data spaces
• Approaches to interoperability, standardization, and semantic integration
• Governance, legal, and ethical challenges in PHDS deployment
• Patient empowerment and engagement in managing personal health data
• Integration of PHDSs with clinical workflows and decision support tools
• Secondary use of PHDS data for research and innovation
• Barriers to large-scale implementation, including cultural and institutional resistance
• Relevant regulatory developments (e.g., international and national regulatory initiatives)
• From data digitalisation to representing and applying medical knowledge
• Expected and actual clinical outcomes of PHDSs
• AI's role and challenges in personal health data spaces.

By consolidating diverse perspectives, this Research Topic aims to elucidate the current state of PHDS design and application, identify ongoing gaps, and chart future paths. The overarching ambition is to deepen the understanding of how PHDSs can effectively support care continuity, bolster trust, and foster resilient, patient-focused healthcare ecosystems. Contributions are encouraged across various disciplines and article types, encompassing original research, reviews, methods papers, and perspectives.

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Advancing Personal Health Data Spaces for Enhanced Care Continuity