Sentence:  An Italian study (Francescato et al. 1979), which compared 137 women who had had more than one abortion with others who had aborted only once, revealed that the use of contraceptives was higher among the <WSD>'chronics</WSD>', and that the contraceptives they employed were generally safer. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A person who is chronic, such as a criminal reoffender or a person with chronic disease.