The link between body mass index (BMI) and disease characteristics in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains controversial.

Body composition (BC) has been more frequently recommended to be used instead of BMI for more accurate assessment.

Our study aimed to investigate the characteristics of BC in RA patients and their associations with disease characteristics.

Body composition was assessed in consecutive Chinese RA patients and control subjects by bioelectric impedance analysis.

 Overfat was defined by body fat percentage (BF%) as ≥25% for men and ≥35% for women. Myopenia was defined by appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI) ≤7.0 kg/m2 in men and ≤5.7 kg/m2 in women.

BMI and clinical data including disease activity, function, and radiographic assessment were collected.

Active disease was defined by disease activity score in 28 joints with four variables including C‐reactive protein (DAS28‐CRP) ≥2.6.

Functional limitation was defined as Stanford health assessment questionnaire disability index (HAQ‐DI) >1.

Radiographic joint damage (RJD) was defined as the Sharp/van der Heijde modified sharp score (mTSS) >10.