OBJECTIVES: To assess the medication adherence rates and quality of life in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients. METHODS: RA patients admitted in the general medicine ward of a tertiary care hospital in Karnataka, India, during August to December 2013 were enrolled in the study. Demographic data of these patients was collected from patients’ medical records, outpatient data and by interviews. Patients (age≥18 years) with RA, irrespective of sex, fulfilling the 2010 ACR/EULAR Classification Criteria, were enrolled in the study. Patient’s assessment of adherence to medication was analyzed by using Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS) and physical function using the Kannada version of the Stanford Improved Health Assessment Questionnaire (KA-HAQ) was collected. RESULTS: The mean age of 72 RA patients was 46.90 ± 12.88 years and disease durations was 4.27 ± 5.53 years. 86% of the patients were females. Among patients, 15 (21.43%) received methotrexate alone and 28 (40%) received a combination therapy of methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine.  The mean KA-HAQ score of RA patients measured by KA-HAQ was 2.70 ± 1.01. Scores on MARS ranged from 26 to 41 with a mean score of 38.65 ± 3.5. The Cronbach's alpha for the MARS was 0.6 and KA-HAQ was 0.92.Using the mean cut-point 44% of 68 patients who completed the MARS were adherent and remaining 64% were not adherent. CONCLUSIONS: In our study we found that 64% of the patients were not adherent to the medications which lead to decreased quality of life RA patients. Adherence to the medications is the optimal management for RA.