Development and initial validation of the Exercise Sensitivity Questionnaire

•The ESQ-18 was developed to measure exercise sensitivity in cardiac rehabilitation (CR).•The ESQ-18 contains two dimensions: (1) cardiopulmonary and (2) pain/weakness during exercise.•ESQ-18 and factor scores demonstrated high internal consistency.•ESQ-18 and factors scores demonstrated high convergent and discriminant validity.•Higher ESQ-18 scores (greater exercise sensitivity) were predictive of lower exercise participation.