Find out the number of rows/columns changed - SQL Server?
Because sys.indexes is the recommended catalog view...


The reason behind non-using of row/colmodctr is another one (you can find it in sys.sysindexes (Transact-SQL) article:


  In SQL Server 2000 and earlier, the Database Engine maintained
  row-level modification counters. Such counters are now maintained at
  the column level. Therefore, the rowmodctr column is calculated and
  produces results that are similar to the results in earlier versions,
  but are not exact.
  
  If you use the value in rowmodctr to determine when to update
  statistics, consider the following solutions:
  
  Do nothing. The new rowmodctr value will frequently help you determine
  when to update statistics because the behavior is reasonably close to
  the results of earlier versions.
  
  Use AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS. For more information see, Statistics.
  
  Use a time limit to determine when to update statistics. For example,
  every hour, every day, or every week.
  
  Use application-level information to determine when to update
  statistics. For example, every time the maximum value of an identity
  column changes by more than 10,000, or every time a bulk insert
  operation is performed.


So now you can use modification_counter column of sys.dm_db_stats_properties (Transact-SQL) for the statistics of interest:


  modification_counter  
  
  Total number of modifications for the leading
  statistics column (the column on which the histogram is built) since
  the last time statistics were updated.