Objective To evaluate the impact of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on work capacity and identify factors related to work capacity impairment in patients with RA.Methods A cross-sectional multicentre study was performed in 21 tertiary care hospitals across China.A consecutive sample of 846 patients with RA was recruited.Of which, 589 patients in working age at disease onset constituted the study population.Socio-demographic, clinical, working and financial conditions of the patients were collected.Logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with work capacity impairment.Results The rate of work capacity impairment was 48.0% in RA patients with mean disease duration of 60 months (IQR 14-134 months), including 11.7% leaving the labor force early, 33.6% reduced working hours and 2.7% job change.The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that reduced working hours was significantly related to current smoking (OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.08-3.97), having no insurance (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.20-3.12), being in manual labor (OR 2.66, 95% CI 1.68-4.20) and higher HAQ score (OR 2.22, 95% CI 1.36-3.60).There was an association of current smoking (OR 3.75, 95% CI 1.54-9.15), being in manual labor (OR 2.33, 95% CI 1.17-4.64), longer disease duration (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00-1.01) and lower BMI (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.82-0.99) with leaving the labor force early.Conclusion There is a substantial impact of RA on work capacity of RA patients in China.Social-demographic, disease related and work-related factors are associated with work capacity impairment.