(CNN) Excessive alcohol use could increase your risk for all types of dementia, particularly early-onset dementia, according to a new study. The study, published Tuesday in the journal Lancet Public Health, looked at over 1 million adults released from French hospitals between 2008 and 2013 who were diagnosed with dementia, a clinical syndrome characterized by a progressive deterioration in cognitive ability. Using data from the French National Hospital Discharge database, the researchers found that alcohol-use disorders were diagnosed in 16.5% of the men with dementia and 4% of the women with dementia -- over twice as much as in those without dementia for both sexes. "The most novel result is the large contribution of alcohol-use disorders to the burden of dementia over the lifespan," said Dr. Michael Schwarzinger, a researcher at the Transitional Health Economics Network in Paris and a leading author of the study. Older people drinking too much could create NHS ‘timebomb’, says doctor Read more 
 
 More than a third – 38% of the 57,000 cases of early-onset dementia – were directly alcohol-related and 18% had an additional diagnosis of alcohol use disorders.  Heavy drinkers are putting themselves at risk of dementia, according to the largest study of its kind ever conducted. “We have long known that alcohol is directly neurotoxic, thiamine deficiency in alcoholics devastates memory, alcohol-related conditions such as cirrhosis and epilepsy can damage the brain and that vascular brain damage is accelerated by alcohol. Surprisingly, we’ve not traditionally considered alcohol and its misuse as an important risk factor for dementia and we were clearly wrong not to have done so.” 
 
 Even moderate drinking can damage the brain, claim researchers Read more 
 
 The study was not set up to look at the effects of moderate drinking on people’s dementia risk.
– A new study suggests that heavy drinking raises a person's risk for dementia, especially the early-onset variety. The research, published in Lancet Public Health, looked at 1.1 million French hospital patients diagnosed with dementia from 2008 to 2013. Of those patients, 16.5% of the men and 4% of the women had alcohol use disorders, which CNN reports is about twice the rate of those without dementia. The stats for early-onset dementia were worse. Of 57,000 cases, 38% were "alcohol related by definition" and another 18% featured an additional diagnosis of alcohol use disorder, per the Guardian. The bottom line? "Alcohol use disorders were a major risk factor for onset of all types of dementia, and especially early-onset dementia" per the study. "Thus, screening for heavy drinking should be part of regular medical care." The WHO defines chronic heavy drinking as roughly four to five drinks a day for a man and about three for a woman, per Science Daily. And while the study focused on heavy drinking, the results raise questions for those who indulge in more moderate fashion as well, notes the Guardian. "What is most surprising about this paper is that it has taken us so long to recognize that alcohol misuse and dependence are such potent risk factors for the development of dementia," says Robert Howard of University College London. Study author Michael Schwarzinger says that while the rate of alcohol use disorders is lower in the US than in France, "it remains substantial enough to be considered [a] major risk factor for dementia onset."