The demographics of lung cancer change every day. The disease, which directly affects the respiratory system, has long been associated with smokers — but that is rapidly changing.

“Before it was rare, but now it’s more and more,” Dr. Ioana Bonta told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Bonta, an oncologist at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, has watched this change slowly over time and is now ringing the alarm for more people to get themselves tested, saying, “If we cannot prevent it, it is better to find it earlier.”

Today, nonsmokers account for 20% of lung cancer deaths, according to the Lung Cancer Research Foundation , making it the fifth-leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. According to Bonta, people are seeing cases earlier in life — in their 40s, 30s and even 20s — because of

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