diff --git a/wp-admin/index.php b/wp-admin/index.php
index f8abbc2d84..8f9f8ac828 100644
--- a/wp-admin/index.php
+++ b/wp-admin/index.php
@@ -32,14 +32,15 @@ foreach ($rss->items as $item ) {
 <?php } ?>
 
 <?php
-if ( $comments = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT comment_author, comment_author_url, comment_ID, comment_post_ID FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_approved = '1' ORDER BY comment_date_gmt DESC LIMIT 5") ) :
+$comments = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT comment_author, comment_author_url, comment_ID, comment_post_ID FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_approved = '1' ORDER BY comment_date_gmt DESC LIMIT 5");
+$numcomments = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $tablecomments WHERE comment_approved = '0'");
+
+if ( $comments || $numcomments ) :
 ?>
 <div>
 <h3><?php _e('Comments'); ?> <a href="edit-comments.php" title="<?php _e('More comments...'); ?>">&raquo;</a></h3>
 
-<?php 
-if ( $numcomments = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $tablecomments WHERE comment_approved = '0'") ) :
-?>
+<?php if ( $numcomments ) : ?>
 <p><strong><a href="moderation.php"><?php echo sprintf(__('Comments in moderation (%s)'), number_format($numcomments) ); ?> &raquo;</a></strong></p>
 <?php endif; ?>
 </div>