diff --git a/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat.c b/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat.c
index 0005021f644..21bdff106a9 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat.c
@@ -1019,7 +1019,7 @@ pgstat_fetch_entry(PgStat_Kind kind, Oid dboid, uint64 objid)
 		stats_data = MemoryContextAlloc(pgStatLocal.snapshot.context,
 										kind_info->shared_data_len);
 
-	pgstat_lock_entry_shared(entry_ref, false);
+	(void) pgstat_lock_entry_shared(entry_ref, false);
 	memcpy(stats_data,
 		   pgstat_get_entry_data(kind, entry_ref->shared_stats),
 		   kind_info->shared_data_len);
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_database.c b/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_database.c
index fbaf8364117..52d82d25352 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_database.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_database.c
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ pgstat_report_checksum_failures_in_db(Oid dboid, int failurecount)
 		return;
 	}
 
-	pgstat_lock_entry(entry_ref, false);
+	(void) pgstat_lock_entry(entry_ref, false);
 
 	sharedent = (PgStatShared_Database *) entry_ref->shared_stats;
 	sharedent->stats.checksum_failures += failurecount;
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_shmem.c b/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_shmem.c
index 5cd24303755..2e33293b000 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_shmem.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat_shmem.c
@@ -643,6 +643,13 @@ pgstat_release_entry_ref(PgStat_HashKey key, PgStat_EntryRef *entry_ref,
 		pfree(entry_ref);
 }
 
+/*
+ * Acquire exclusive lock on the entry.
+ *
+ * If nowait is true, it's just a conditional acquire, and the result
+ * *must* be checked to verify success.
+ * If nowait is false, waits as necessary, always returning true.
+ */
 bool
 pgstat_lock_entry(PgStat_EntryRef *entry_ref, bool nowait)
 {
@@ -656,8 +663,10 @@ pgstat_lock_entry(PgStat_EntryRef *entry_ref, bool nowait)
 }
 
 /*
+ * Acquire shared lock on the entry.
+ *
  * Separate from pgstat_lock_entry() as most callers will need to lock
- * exclusively.
+ * exclusively.  The wait semantics are identical.
  */
 bool
 pgstat_lock_entry_shared(PgStat_EntryRef *entry_ref, bool nowait)