diff --git a/src/mod_pubsub/mod_pubsub.erl b/src/mod_pubsub/mod_pubsub.erl
index 41501b2c2..38d56d17c 100644
--- a/src/mod_pubsub/mod_pubsub.erl
+++ b/src/mod_pubsub/mod_pubsub.erl
@@ -2024,8 +2024,8 @@ publish_item(Host, ServerHost, Node, Publisher, ItemId, Payload) ->
 		    DeliverPayloads = get_option(Options, deliver_payloads),
 		    PersistItems = get_option(Options, persist_items),
 		    MaxItems = case PersistItems of
-			0 -> 0;
-			1 -> max_items(Host, Options)
+			false -> 0;
+			true -> max_items(Host, Options)
 		    end,
 		    PayloadCount = payload_xmlelements(Payload),
 		    PayloadSize = size(term_to_binary(Payload))-2, % size(term_to_binary([])) == 2