diff --git a/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_replslot.c b/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_replslot.c
index 1a8473bcd4..4faf06045c 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_replslot.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_replslot.c
@@ -153,8 +153,9 @@ pgstat_acquire_replslot(ReplicationSlot *slot)
 void
 pgstat_drop_replslot(ReplicationSlot *slot)
 {
-	pgstat_drop_entry(PGSTAT_KIND_REPLSLOT, InvalidOid,
-					  ReplicationSlotIndex(slot));
+	if (!pgstat_drop_entry(PGSTAT_KIND_REPLSLOT, InvalidOid,
+						   ReplicationSlotIndex(slot)))
+		pgstat_request_entry_refs_gc();
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_shmem.c b/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_shmem.c
index 9a4f037959..9e4ea2e042 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_shmem.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_shmem.c
@@ -850,6 +850,17 @@ pgstat_drop_database_and_contents(Oid dboid)
 		pgstat_request_entry_refs_gc();
 }
 
+/*
+ * Drop a single stats entry.
+ *
+ * This routine returns false if the stats entry of the dropped object could
+ * not be freed, true otherwise.
+ *
+ * The callers of this function should call pgstat_request_entry_refs_gc()
+ * if the stats entry could not be freed, to ensure that this entry's memory
+ * can be reclaimed later by a different backend calling
+ * pgstat_gc_entry_refs().
+ */
 bool
 pgstat_drop_entry(PgStat_Kind kind, Oid dboid, Oid objoid)
 {