diff --git a/docs/changes.txt b/docs/changes.txt
index c666ed9dbb..ffb05b5c70 100644
--- a/docs/changes.txt
+++ b/docs/changes.txt
@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ Changes in behaviour not resulting in compilation errors
   there is no highlighted menu item, instead of wxID_ANY used before, for
   consistency with wxMSW.
 
+- wxListCtrl::GetItemState() in wxMSW now checks the passed in item index for
+  validity, as the generic version under the other platforms already did.
+
 
 Changes in behaviour which may result in build errors
 -----------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/msw/listctrl.cpp b/src/msw/listctrl.cpp
index 5f6f922854..89456899bb 100644
--- a/src/msw/listctrl.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/listctrl.cpp
@@ -1077,6 +1077,9 @@ bool wxListCtrl::SetItem(long index, int col, const wxString& label, int imageId
 // Gets the item state
 int wxListCtrl::GetItemState(long item, long stateMask) const
 {
+    wxCHECK_MSG( item >= 0 && item < GetItemCount(), 0,
+                 wxS("invalid list control item index in GetItemState()") );
+
     wxListItem info;
 
     info.m_mask = wxLIST_MASK_STATE;