Protein energy wasting (PEW) is consistently associated with poor prognosis in hemodialysis (HD) patients. We compared the predictability of PEW as diagnosed by The International Society of Renal Nutrition and Metabolism criteria (PEWISRNM) and geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) for all-cause mortality in Japanese HD patients. As cut-off values for body mass index (BMI) for PEW have not been established in PEWISRNM for Asian populations, these were also investigated.