diff --git a/src/mat73.c b/src/mat73.c
index 8237546e..1896e8eb 100644
--- a/src/mat73.c
+++ b/src/mat73.c
@@ -845,6 +845,10 @@ Mat_H5ReadGroupInfo(mat_t *mat, matvar_t *matvar, hid_t dset_id)
         return err;
     }
 
+    if (nfields == 0) {
+        return MATIO_E_GENERIC_READ_ERROR;
+    }
+
     /* Check if the variable is sparse */
     if ( H5Aexists_by_name(dset_id, ".", "MATLAB_sparse", H5P_DEFAULT) ) {
         herr_t herr;