diff --git a/apachesolr.index.inc b/apachesolr.index.inc
index 9864f00..c6a9b82 100644
--- a/apachesolr.index.inc
+++ b/apachesolr.index.inc
@@ -658,7 +658,10 @@ function apachesolr_index_node_solr_document(ApacheSolrDocument $document, $node
   $document->changed = apachesolr_date_iso($node->changed);
   $last_change = (isset($node->last_comment_timestamp) && $node->last_comment_timestamp > $node->changed) ? $node->last_comment_timestamp : $node->changed;
   $document->last_comment_or_change = apachesolr_date_iso($last_change);
-  $document->comment_count = isset($node->comment_count) ? $node->comment_count : 0;
+
+  if (!empty($node->comment_count)) {
+    $document->comment_count = $node->comment_count;
+  }
 
   // We need to get the real username here, since it needs a full user object.
   // That means we can't do the format_username() call on the display side.