Venous thromboembolism (VTE), including deep-vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism (PE), is often accompanied by acute hyperglycaemia or 'stress-hyperglycaemia'(1). Vice versa, growing evidence suggests that both chronic and acute hyperglycaemia contribute to coagulation activation and hypofibrinolysis, resulting in a prothrombotic state (2,3). The clinical consequences of the presence of stress-hyperglycaemia during VTE have been assessed in different patient settings. © 2012 International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis.