Is Outlook 2003 losing some of my Contacts?

In Outlook 2003, at the very lower left hand corner of
the Contacts screen, I see "2778 Items," which I assume
means that I have 2778 Contacts. I have noticed that
although on an average day I add about five contacts, and
rarely delete any, that number is DECREASING over time
when it should be INCREASING. For instance, yesterday,
it showed "2790 Items". Since yesterday, I have added
about twenty Contacts, but now it reads "2778 items."

When I look at the list of Contacts, and sort
by "Modifed" or "Created" everything appears OK. I don't
appear to missing a single days worth of entries, for
instance. I am concerned, of course, that Outlook is
losing some entries, and that I am not noticing them
because of what seems to me at least to be a reasonably
high number of Contacts, approaching 3000.

Am I misinterpreting "2778 items"? Please advise.